St. Viator's Aboona, Fremd's Klimek join forces

Alan Aboona and Chris Klimek were nearly teammates at St. Viator until Klimek decided to attend Fremd.

But now they'll have a chance to be college teammates and probably roommates at Division III basketball powerhouse Washington University in St. Louis.

Aboona, a two-time Daily Herald All-Area point guard, announced his decision to attend Washington on Friday.

"(Klimek) didn't know I was considering Washington until I was close to committing," Aboona said. "He pretty much convinced me to commit."

The 6-foot-1 Aboona averaged 16 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds as he led Viator to its most successful season in school history with 24 wins and a trip to the Class 3A supersectional. He was an Illinois Basketball Coaches Association 3A/4A fourth team all-state pick and was an honorable mention selection on The Associated Press 3A all-state team.

Washington, which won Division III titles in 2008 and 2009 and is 103-16 the last four years, first contacted Aboona last summer and he made a campus visit during his spring break. He also visited Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

"You can't beat the academics (at Washington) and that was the main attraction for me," said Aboona, who has the equivalent of a 4.0 grade-point-average and scored 32 on the ACT and wants to study pre-med or biology. "The basketball program was icing on the cake for me."

Washington was 24-3 last season and lost in the second round of the Division III tournament. It has made 23 straight NCAA tourney trips and hasn't had a losing season since the first three under 28th-year head coach Mark Edwards.

Aboona also knows sophomores Alex Toth (Prospect) and Dylan Richter (Stevenson), who played in all 27 games last season.

"I talked to them a lot and they seemed like guys I can really relate to," Aboona said.

Washington will also be looking to replace first-team All-America point guard Sean Wallis, who helped Glenbrook North win the 2005 AA state title with Jon Scheyer.

"It's an open competition for the point guard spot," Aboona said. "They said if I play well I can take it."