Fremd keeps poise, beats Niles North

Fremd knew maintaining a lead and its poise would be a challenge against the relentless style of Niles North.

Fremd lost a 13-point third-quarter lead in Tuesday night's first-round game of the 34th annual Wildcat Hardwood Classic Boys Basketball Tournament.

But Fremd (9-2) scored the last 5 points in the final 1:52 to pull out a 66-64 victory in its first appearance at Wheeling.

"We tried to stay calm in that situation," said Fremd senior Adam Gorecki, who had 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting and 15 rebounds.

Garrett Peters scored 12 points and Riley Glassman added 11 as Fremd advanced to today's 8:45 p.m. game against Libertyville (8-2), a 64-57 winner over Wheeling.

"I have a lot of respect for Niles North because they do a lot of good stuff," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. "When they got the lead we did a good job of staying focused on what we were doing."

An 11-point run led Fremd to a 52-39 lead and Niles North (5-5) also had its two best players, Malachi Nix and Mychael Henley, pick up their fourth fouls midway through the third quarter.

But Nix (21 points) and Henley (16 points) fueled Niles North's rally to a 64-61 lead when Fremd called timeout with 2:08 left.

"It was nice to see in the huddle they didn't blink," Widlowski said. "We stayed focused and stayed together."

Sean Benka hit 2 free throws as Henley fouled out at 1:52 and that was followed by an exchange of 5 turnovers. Glassman, who came off the bench as he battles nagging injuries, hit a driving 8-footer in the lane for a 65-64 lead at 0:43.

Peters, who missed two games with a foot injury, split 2 free throws at 0:14. Benka and Glassman double-teamed Nix on the right wing and forced him into a cross-court pass that was fumbled as time ran out.

Fremd also got a nice boost off the bench from 6-foot-5 sophomore Ben Carlson (8 points, 5 rebounds).

"Our defense can't give up 60-some points and expect to win," said Gorecki, whose team came in allowing 43 a game. "We could have done better but it's a 'W' and we'll take it."