Northwest notes/Recht boosts Buffalo Grove
Last weekend was a pivotal one for the Buffalo Grove boys basketball team.
And the best-case scenario occurred for the Bison as they won 58-56 at Hersey and beat Zion-Benton 79-73 in overtime. That put them right back in the Mid-Suburban East race and at 15-8 gave them a No. 6 seed in the Barrington Class 4A sectional.
“Without a doubt it was the best we’ve played all season,” said BG senior Dan Recht, who had 20 points against Hersey and 15 against Z-B. “The last two seasons we haven’t competed with Hersey at Hersey.
“We showed character through tough times and battled back.”
Especially after BG started 8-2 but then lost its last three games in the Elgin tournament.
“It was a big weekend for us,” said BG coach Ryan O’Connor. “You looked at those two games this weekend and wondered which way things were going to go down the stretch.”
Nick Prus scored 35 points in the Zion victory and 6-foot-7 Sam Wacker had two double-figure scoring games. And Recht’s value went beyond two of his best offensive games.
“We were having a little bit of difficulty handling the basketball (against Zion) so we moved him to a guard spot for awhile,” O’Connor said. “We had him do a little bit of everything.”
Recht said he’s always been into statistics and plans to study actuarial science at Illinois. But the only numbers he’s worried about right now involve keeping BG on a roll when Wheeling visits tonight.
“I try to provide a little bit of everything to help the team and I’m a garbage guy,” said the 6-3 Recht, who averages 8.6 points a game. “We’ve been really up and down this year, but right now we’re up. Hopefully it continues.”
Malley a roll player: Senior Egan Malley has been coming off the bench since early in the season. It’s a role he’s fine with as Palatine improved to 9-13 after Malley scored 16 and 15 points in weekend wins over Hoffman Estates and Round Lake.
“This is going to give us a bit of confidence going in (to the state tourney).” Malley said. “We have to be at our best now.
“The juniors have done a really good job and they’ve carried us a lot.”
Malley’s weekend offensive outburst came after he scored just 14 points total in his previous three games.
“He had a little different mindset,” said Palatine coach Eric Millstone. “He realizes this is the last month of his basketball career and he’s trying to do something about it. He’s been very aggressive.”
One of the juniors who has contributed in ways that don’t always show up in the box score is Austin Marrison. He scored 9 points against Round Lake but also held dangerous offensive threat Juddon Carter to 2 points.
“Austin has done a lot for us this year,” Millstone said. “He could be a very good scorer for us but we’ve asked him to guard the other team’s best player and run the point for us.
“He’s sacrificed that (scoring) part of the game for the good of the team. His contributions have been invaluable this season.”
Got to have Hart: Maine West junior Conor Hart was on his way to a career night with 19 points at halftime of last Friday’s Central Suburban North game with Niles North.
But Hart was held to just 2 points in the second half of a 64-51 loss. One night later he rebounded for 20 points in a 65-55 win over Elk Grove.
“(Niles North) mixed up its pressure and I put a lot of the blame on myself,” Hart said after the Elk Grove win. “I just wasn’t working hard enough to get open.
“(Against Elk Grove) I made sure I was able to get the ball when I needed to get the ball and that helped me out the whole game.”
One of the biggest pluses of last Saturday was 6-9 junior Cody Zimmerman getting extended minutes and scoring 6 points. Maine West coach Erik McNeill knew it would take some time for Zimmerman to adjust to varsity competition.
“By the end of the season we figured he’d give us something off the bench and he did tonight,” McNeill said.
“He’s come a long way this season,” Hart said. “He’s one of the hardest workers on the team. He has a great work ethic.”
Maine West has won four of its last five going into tonight’s visit by Glenbrook North, which is tied for the Central Suburban North lead with Niles North. The Warriors finish division play at Highland Park and hope to continue their roll into the postseason.
“We see it in spurts,” Hart said. “Not only is the starting five clicking but so are the bench guys.”
Feast in the East: At least a share of the MSL East title is at stake when three-time defending champion Prospect (12-7, 6-2) hosts Hersey (13-9, 6-2) at 7:30 p.m. today.
The Huskies won the first meeting 60-59 as Justin Jobski (15 points), Tom Sutrinaitis (14) and Trevor Haas (10) hit double figures. They won their last East title in 2005.
“We’re definitely fired up and looking forward to this game and I think the kids are fired up,” said Hersey coach Steve Messer after Tuesday’s 58-49 loss to Lake Park. “Lake Park was a good team for us to play going into (Prospect) to see how fast, athletic and aggressive they are.
“We have to go in with the mentality of throwing it all out there.”
Mike LaTulip had 25 points and Matt Loebbaka had 22 for Prospect in the first meeting with Hersey.
Planting Class 4A sectional seeds: At Barrington, Warren, Mundelein, the host Broncos and Zion-Benton got the top four spots. Fremd, BG, Prospect, Hersey and St. Viator are 5 through 9, Rolling Meadows is 12th, Palatine is 19th and Wheeling is 21st.
At New Trier, Notre Dame, Evanston, Maine South and Niles North got the top four seeds. Conant is ninth, Maine West is 14th, Schaumburg is 15th, Hoffman Estates is 20th and Elk Grove is 21st.
All Class 3A and 4A seeds were released Thursday and are at ihsa.org. Tournament pairings are scheduled to be posted on the IHSA website this afternoon.