Fremd extends winning ways

Using their win over Barrington last Friday as a springboard, Fremd used the momenteum to stop Batavia 57-28 in the first round of the 34th annual Elgin Tournament.

The Vikings never trailed in picking up their second win versus 7 losses to beat the 5-3 Bulldogs.

"The win over Barrington was the monkey off of our backs," said Fremd junior forward Chris Klimek, who scored 16 points and snared 6 rebounds. "We had been questioning ourselves at times during the losses. Tonight we felt like we were all on the same page. Our defense has played well in spurts. Tonight we played well the whole night."

The Vikings broke out to a 10-3 lead with Joseph Depaolis (12 points) and sophomore Zach Monaghan (13 points) connecting for 3-point baskets. Charles Rosenberg and Klimek scored the other two hoops.

Batavia closed to 10-8 on a basket by Ricky Clopton (13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks) from a steal, but got no closer.

Fremd went on a 11-3 run over a 1:43 span for a 21-11 lead and led 23-16 at the half.

A 10-2 run to start the second half gave the Vikings a 33-18 lead and Batavia could not recover. William Reising helped the defense by hauling down 10 rebounds.

"This was a game were our defense helped the offense," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. "We've built every week to get better and better. Our seniors took a lead tonight. They were assertive and continue to play better."

"We didn't shoot the ball well," Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. "We didn't get to the boards. Most of the time it was one and done. We knew they could shoot and had some bangers on the inside."

Jordan Coffey had 9 points for Batavia.