Defensive commitment lifts Fremd

Fremd used a lock-down defensive effort and superior play in the paint to score a win over Mid-Suburban League rival Elk Grove at the Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Vikings held the Grenadiers to 13 first-half points en route to a 52-35 victory at the 26th annual Fenton Invitational in Bensenville.

Fremd shook off the effects of a tough 3-point loss to Lake Park on Monday to rebound and improve to 1-1 on the year.

"I actually thought we played good defense in both games," said Vikes coach Bob Widlowski. "The difference tonight was that we combined great defense with much better execution."

Fremd senior guard Garrett Peters scored a game high 15 points, while Anthony Jiminez led the Grens with 9.

The Vikings held Elk Grove junior guard Austin Amann, who poured in 27 points in the Grens' Monday night win over Fenton, to just 3 Tuesday.

"He (Amann) was our focus tonight," said Widlowski, "and Matt Wisniewski and Sean Benka combined to a nice job on him."

"We did focus on him," said Peters, "but we also didn't want their big guys to hurt us, so we also focused on boxing out and doing the job inside."

Fremd 6-foot-6 senior forward Adam Gorecki scored all 11 of his points in the first half as the Vikings, who finished the game with a resounding advantage on the glass, jumped to a 30-13 halftime lead.

Fremd led by 23 at one point in the second half but a barrage of Grenadiers 3-pointers, including 3 from Jiminez, saw Elk Grove cut the lead to 42-30 early in the fourth quarter.

"We put some things together and we started to believe," said Elk Grove (1-1) coach Anthony Furman. "We've just got to start to believe a little earlier in the game against a good team like Fremd."

Elk Grove had the chance to cut the lead even further but a couple of missed layups hurt; then a 4-point play from Peters with 3:52 remaining put the game out of reach.

Sophomore forward Ben Carlson scored 9 points and grabbed 7 boards for the Vikes while teammate Gorecki also had 7 rebounds.

Zach Solorio added 8 points for Elk Grove.

"Fremd's defense is solid," said Furman. "They took us out of everything we wanted to do in the first half.

"We had a nice run late, but that's something I expect to see the entire game."

Wheaton North 50, Rolling Meadows 40: As far as debuts go, Andrew Zellis was pretty satisfied with how his varsity game went, though he said he wasn't pleased with a lapse in production in the third quarter.

Zellis did more than enough, however, pouring in a game-high 22 points to go along with 11 rebounds in leading Wheaton North (1-0) to a 50-40 victory over Rolling Meadows (0-1) in the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic at Palatine High School.

"He has worked really hard over the last year and has improved tremendously," said Wheaton North coach Jim Nazos. "It was an impressive first game. I think he did a great job of finishing, and our perimeter players did a great job of getting him the ball."

With Rolling Meadows' tallest starter being 6-foot-3, the 6-11 junior took advantage by scoring on an array of layups, putbacks and 10-foot jump shots.

Unselfish teammates such as Sam Otto (7 assists) and Ryan Jordan (4 assists) continually found Zellis down low for easy baskets.

"When we see a team with not as much height, we are going to look for Zellis a lot to open up our outside game and get him a bunch of points," Otto said.

"We need him to score 20 points a game and I don't think anyone can stop him."

Zellis credited playing a summer of AAU ball to help ease the transition from the sophomore team to the varsity.

"It's my first year but I don't really feel like a rookie because I had a good summer of preparation," Zellis said.

Tied 11-11 after the first quarter, the Falcons outscored the Mustangs 18-6 in the second quarter to open up the game.

"We stayed with what we were doing," Nazos said. "We weren't turning the ball over as much as we did in the first quarter. I thought we did a good job getting out to their shooters and at least altering their shots a little bit."

Otto and Dan Madhavapallil made things difficult for the Mustangs' top scoring threats as the duo combined to hold Tyler Gaedele and Brian Nelms to 11 points apiece.

"Gaedele is a kid that can make any shot and we didn't want to give him any room whatsoever," Otto said. "We had to tag him and make sure we were tight on him the whole game."

When Gaedele found Michael Rose (10 points) for a layup, Rolling Meadows trailed just 40-36 with 2:48 to go.

But Madhavapallil knocked down a 3-pointer and Zellis scored on three consecutive trips to thwart any chances of a comeback.

"I thought we did a better job defensively in the second half, but the whole game we had way too many turnovers," said Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "That's not something that I would expect from this group. We'll have to get it right and come back tomorrow."

Ryan O'Gara

Elgin 67, Stevenson 65 (OT): Elgin boys basketball coach Mike Sitter, standing after a thrilling victory Tuesday night, shook his head.

He was in awe.

"That Fleming played out of his mind," he said of Stevenson senior guard Michael Fleming. "We had a hand in his face all night; he did not get one open look."

But Fleming, a 6-footer, poured in a game-high 27 points (4 treys) in a 67-65 overtime loss in a Bison Thanksgiving Classic game at Buffalo Grove.

"We had two guys, all over him, and he still hit a pull-up 3 on us," Sitter added.

Sitter's Maroons (2-0), though, pulled out the victory behind senior guard Dennis Moore's clutch free-throw shooting in the extra session. Moore (16 points) made all 8 of his freebies in OT and tallied 10 of Elgin's 14 points after regulation.

"Those free throws were key," Sitter said. "Dennis is accustomed to tough situations ... in football, in basketball. He has ice in his veins."

Bill McLean