Join the Mustangs ... and see the sights

Pretty soon the basketball players at Mundelein are going to need passports.

The Mustangs are becoming quite the travelers, after all.

For the last two years, the coaches at Mundelein have been trying to glam up their schedule by planning winter break trips that combine basketball with sightseeing, adventure and learning.

First the Mustangs went to Washington, where they played a few games and toured all kinds of historic landmarks.

Last year, they went to Arizona and enjoyed the desert sun and the outdoors when they weren't playing some of the better teams in that state.

Now, they're finalizing their itinerary for a trip that will take them to sunny, warm San Diego.

"We try to do some really neat things in our program, things the guys can be proud of," said Mundelein coach Dick Knar, who says the program conducts extensive fundraisers to help finance the trips. "The trips have been a lot of fun."

The Mustangs will be in California from Dec. 28 to Jan. 4, and they plan to hit the beautiful beaches, visit the world-famous San Diego Zoo and tour an aircraft carrier at a local military base.

But the highlight might be the excursion they'll take to go whale watching.

"I'm looking forward to it," Knar said. "I'm up for anything."

Indeed he is.

Want to know where the Mustangs are going next winter?

"Hawaii," Knar said excitedly. "I'm already making plans for it."

Scoring machine: The more defenses try to stop him, the tougher Mundelein guard Ben Brust seems to get.

Within a week, Brust has scored a career-high 45 points in one game (against Libertyville) and 37 in another against Zion-Benton. And while he often makes it look easy, scoring all those points has often required maximum effort.

Mundelein (4-5) has struggled early this season and Brust has been the one constant, which makes him a target.

"What he's doing is hard to do anyway," Dick Knar said. "But it's really hard for him because everyone keys on him. That's the amazing thing about it. Teams are like, 'We're going to stop him.' And he still scores.

"In our system, if you move without the ball and work hard, you're going to score and that's what Ben does. I'm always telling him he can always work on his defense or his rebounding, but offensively, I don't think it gets any better than this."

Poor PJ: You've got to feel for Mundelein forward PJ Bregenzer.

He's a senior, and he would have been a starter for the Mustangs this season.

But since he can barely lift his left arm above his head, Bregenzer is going to have to settle for a seat on the bench instead.

Bregenzer first injured his shoulder two summers ago while playing basketball.

"It just popped out," Dick Knar said. "He rehabbed it and then tried to play football and it happened again. Now, he can't even shoot a left-handed layup because he can't raise his arm high enough."

The 6-foot-3 Bregenzer is scheduled to have surgery on the shoulder Friday, and he will be sidelined the rest of the season.

"It's such a shame, I feel so bad for the kid," Knar said. "It's his senior year, he really wanted to play in college and then this happens. He's holding up OK though, way better than I would."

Before the situation with his shoulder really deteriorated, Bregenzer tried to practice sparingly with his shoulder in a brace. Knar even sneaked him into a few games.

"He'd come into and practice with us until we did the live stuff," Knar said. "I also tried to get him into games when I could, just so that he could get on the floor as a senior. He played a bit against Carmel, and some other teams. I think that meant a lot to him."

Back in action: Just as Mundelein loses one potential starter for the entire season, it gains back another.

PJ Bregenzer is scheduled to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery Friday, but on Monday, the Mustangs welcome back senior forward Aaron Metzger, who has been sidelined to serve a suspension.

"Getting him back will be huge for us," Dick Knar said. "He's 6-foot-4, athletic and strong... and we're dying for that right now."

Cool customer: The stage was set for nerves to be a factor.

But Warren guard Brandon Paul wasn't falling for it.

The Blue Devils were playing in the annual "Shootout at the Hall" one-day basketball extravaganza last weekend at the Assembly Hall in Champaign - and Paul was one of the main attractions.

He signed early in November to play basketball at Illinois and had the chance to give the locals a preview of things to come.

Paul put on a show in a 54-42 victory over Curie, scoring 17 points, hauling down 9 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists. He also finished with no turnovers against what Warren coach Chuck Ramsey describes as a "very good pressure defense."

"Brandon handled the whole thing great," Ramsey said. "He was the most composed player on the floor.

"He had a very good all-around game. He played well defensively, holding down this highly rated kid (Wayne Blackshear). This kid is just a sophomore but he'll be recruited nationally. I'm sure Illinois is recruiting him."

Good ol' days: Sure, it's a bit of a trek, but Warren coach Chuck Ramsey doesn't mind traveling down to Champaign for a single basketball game. Especially if it means that his team gets to play at Assembly Hall.

It's a place that has been near-and-dear to Ramsey's heart for a long time.

"It's quite a place," said Ramsey, whose Blue Devils got a 54-42 win over Curie at Assembly Hall as part of the annual "Shootout at the Hall" one-day event last weekend. "I grew up in downstate Illinois and your goal every year was to get to the state championship game so that you could play in Assembly Hall."

In 1996, after 32 years at Assembly Hall, the state championship series was moved to Carver Arena in Peoria.

"When they switched that I was shocked, because Assembly Hall was just so great," Ramsey said. "But I know Peoria really wanted it and they made a strong bid for it."

One man, and more: During the preseason, Chuck Ramsey had mixed feelings on his team's offensive capabilities.

On the one hand, he was excited to see star guard Brandon Paul take his game to the next level.

On the other, he feared that Paul's teammates were excited, too. Ramsey was concerned that the Warren offense would become the Brandon Paul show and that eventually, the good teams would figure out how to beat a one-man team.

So far, Ramsey's fears haven't materialized.

Several players have stepped up more than enough to make the Blue Devils more balanced than Ramsey probably could have hoped for.

While Paul is averaging 23.4 points per game, three players are also averaging double figures.

Forwards Jake Anderson and James Poliquin and guard David Duncan are all at about 11 points per game.

"I don't know how long it's going to last, because we've had some wild, high-scoring games," Ramsey said. "But it's been nice that we've had some other people being major contributors."

Health matters: It's amazing what fewer trips to the training room can do for one's game.

Last year, Warren forward James Poliquin was hurt and sick and wound up missing a big chunk of the season. This year (knock on wood), he's been humming along fine with no hang-ups.

Not only is the 6-foot-4 Poliquin averaging about 11 points per game, he's also one of Warren's top rebounders. Over the last week, he's had two games in which he tallied double-figures in rebounds.

"We always figured that if he could get healthy, James would be a really good player for us," Chuck Ramsey said. "He's doing that now. It's good because he had a really tough junior year."

Last year, Poliquin was slowed at the beginning of the season with an ankle injury. He didn't even play until Warren went down to Pontiac over the holidays.

"And even then, he probably wasn't totally ready," Ramsey said. "But he eventually started getting into a grove. Then he got really sick with a terrible flu and that really zapped him. It was just a rough year for him."

Good medicine: A win over rival Stevenson on Saturday didn't cure all of Libertyville's ills, but it sure did help make the Wildcats feel a little bit better.

Before the victory, Libertyville had lost four straight games.

But that wasn't the worst of it. The Wildcats also hadn't been playing at full strength.

Already this season, six players, including a couple of starters, have gone down with either injuries or illnesses.

"We've been really struggling with that," said Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil. "It's been hard to get any kind of flow going. It's been really difficult just to figure out who to play where."

The problems started when junior forward Hobie Herberger got sick with mono before the start of the season. Then, junior guard John Colao came down with pneumonia.

Around the same time, news came down that senior guard James Simmons, who was fighting for a starting spot, would be out until possibly Christmas because of a violation of school academic policy.

Then, in an early season scrimmage, junior guard James Zotto went up for a layup, rolled his ankle and went to the hospital, where he received X-rays and a walking boot. He just ditched the boot last week.

Once the Wildcats started playing games, their luck got no better.

Senior forward Paul Aynilian dislocated his shoulder while setting a screen in the season opener against Elk Grove. He scored 12 points against Stevenson last weekend but was forced to wear a sling for awhile.

And if all that wasn't enough, junior guard Tommy Burr was out with an illness and only just recently returned.

"We can't use (the injuries and illnesses) as a crutch because the schedule moves forward," Bogumil said. "But it is hard. We had high expectations before the season because we thought this was the most talented and deepest group we've had since I got here (four years ago). We're not doing the things we thought we would do.

"My job every day has been coming up with things about facing adversity and making sure that no matter how bad it seems, what's happening to us isn't as bad as what's happening to some people right now."

Hill of an opportunity: The silver lining to Libertyville's tough luck with injuries and illnesses so far this season is that some players who were once pegged as reserves are getting the chance to strut their stuff more so than usual.

Senior Julian Hill has made the most of his opportunities. The 6-foot-6 forward is averaging 12 points per game.

"He was going to come off the bench for us," Scott Bogumil said. "He's been such a pleasant surprise for us. And I think he's only get better. Julian was like 6-foot-1 as a freshman and now he's 6-6. He's still growing into his body, which I think means that his best basketball is still ahead."

Great start: With losses in its last three games, Grayslake North has just about neutralized its great start.

The Knights shot out of the gates and opened the season with 4 straight wins, the best start in the school's brief three-year history.

"It was the first time we ever had a winning record at any point," said Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh. "It was the first time we had won consecutive games. We felt really good that first week and are still hoping that those wins have set the tone for the season."

The Knights defeated Wauconda, Richmond-Burton, Harvard and Johnsburg to win the Johnsburg/Richmond-Burton Thanksgiving tournament. Along the way, guard Grant Henricksen was named the tournament most valuable player and guard Matt Pucher made the all-tournament team.

"We had never beaten Richmond, Wauconda or Johnsburg," Grunloh said. "I think that does a lot for our confidence. Anytime you jump out to a 4-0 record, that gets people excited. We just have to get back on track now."

No drop-off: Part of the reason Grayslake Central has absorbed the loss of star forward Andrew Sipes so well is that Josh Rappaport has been so much more than a hasty fill in.

Rappaport was moved into the starting lineup when Sipes went down with a season-ending knee injury in the third game of the season. The junior forward has made the position his, scoring in double figures in all five games he has started.

"He's a scorer," Grayslake Central coach Brian Moe said of Rappaport. "He can shoot, he can penetrate, he curls to the basket. He just knows how to score.

"The things that Andrew did for us really have to be made up for by more than one guy. He was our leading scorer, our leading rebounder, and he just did so many other things. But the way Josh is playing is really helping a lot."

Sipes surgery: This probably won't be the best Christmas Andrew Sipes has ever had.

The Grayslake Central forward will undergo surgery on Dec. 22 to repair the knee ligaments that he tore in the third game. The Rams' leading scorer will miss the rest of the season while recuperating.

"Andrew is a pretty religious guy," said Grayslake Central coach Brian Moe. "He's got a really good attitude about everything."

Big win: Grayslake Central's big victory over Jacobs earlier this month won't be forgotten anytime soon.

Not only did the Rams come out on top after three overtimes, they snapped Jacobs' 34-game winning streak over fellow Fox Valley Conference teams.

"In terms of biggest wins I've ever been a part of, that ranks right up there," Brian Moe said. "This is going to stick with us for quite a while. It's good, because to have that experience to draw on is huge for high school kids.

"When we face a tough situation like that again, we can say, we got it done then, we can get it done again now."