Fremd shoots past Elk Grove

Fremd was not meeting the high standard it set for itself defensively on Tuesday night, as 6 of Elk Grove's 9 first-half field goals were layups.

Fortunately for the Vikings, their offense more than picked up the slack.

Using patience to get high-percentage shots, Fremd shot 63 percent (24-for-38) from the floor to defeat visiting Elk Grove 59-49 in a Mid-Suburban boys basketball crossover.

“We moved the ball well today,” said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. “That's a pretty good field goal percentage. You do that and you play defense, you put yourself in a good position to win the game.”

Fremd (8-3) assisted on 18 of its 24 baskets while Elk Grove (4-4) had just 6 assists on its 17 field goals.

“We worked our offense really well,” said Riley Glassmann, who led the Vikings with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting. “We got 10 passes each possession and either a layup or free throw. We'll take a minute off the clock if we need to.”

Xavier Williams and Sean Benka took turns trying to slow Elk Grove star Austin Amann and held him to 7 points on 2-of-9 shooting in the first half. Amann finished with 17 points.

With so much attention on Amann, Grenadiers sophomore Matt Wary (team-high 18 points) took full advantage, getting to the basket at will in the opening half and keeping Elk Grove close.

His fifth layup made it 23-18 with 4:32 before intermission.

“We were concerned because some of those other guys stepped up early and got good looks,” Widlowski said.

“That really fired us up when they started making a comeback in the second quarter,” Glassmann said. “We pride ourselves on our defense. We played defense the rest of the game.”

The Vikings responded after the break, using an 18-6 third-quarter spurt to go up 46-32.

Kevin Kubis had five of his 11 points during the pivotal stretch as Elk Grove didn't get closer than 9 points the rest of the way.

“They were making their shots,” Wary said. “We could have had more enthusiasm on defense. They were pushing us around a little too much.”

Ben Carlson, who used his height to facilitate on the offensive end, added 12 points for the Vikings. Kishan Patel and Joell Melendez had 7 points apiece for the Grenadiers, who shot only 35 percent (17-of-48) but cashed in at the charity stripe by making 14-of-15 free throws.

“I thought we should have came with a little bit more confidence in ourselves and handle some pressure against a team that we know is good,” said Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman. “We didn't respond.”