Elgin Holiday Tournament
As the top seed, it's no surprise Batavia is headed to the championship game at the Elgin Holiday Tournament.
It's how the Bulldogs got there that is.
Batavia closed out its 63-50 semifinal victory over Buffalo Grove on Friday night with both Nick Fruendt and David Bryant at the end of the bench because of illness and injury, respectively.
It doesn't seem to matter to the resourceful Bulldogs, who found one player after another to make key plays and overcome adversity, snapping BG's 8-game winning streak in the process.
No one more than senior forward Jordan Smith, who delivered a season-high 21 points and 14 rebounds.
"We feel that Nick is a big part of our offense and defense and a role model and good team player," Smith said. "Without him we struggled a little in the beginning but I feel like we're just gelling and doing a great job."
Batavia (11-2) will play Wheaton North for the championship at 8 p.m. tonight. The Bulldogs, who defeated the Falcons in last year's third-place game, will be trying for their second Elgin title in three years.
BG (11-2), which plays Highland Park for third at 6:30 p.m., held its last lead at 9-7. Reserve Ben Potter drained a 3-pointer just before the first-quarter buzzer to put Batavia ahead 10-9.
The Bulldogs never trailed again, using 11-2 and 10-0 spurts in the first half to build a 27-17 halftime lead.
Brian DeSimone sparked BG in the third quarter with 7 straight points to trim the deficit to 34-31. The Bison also got within 40-37 early in the fourth, but Smith scored inside and Phil Albrecht drained a 3 to push Batavia back ahead 45-37.
"Seemed like every time we would get it to 3 we'd get a nice open look and couldn't put it in the hole," BG coach Ryan O'Connor said.
Both teams were stellar at the free-throw line. Buffalo Grove hit all 14 of its attempts while Batavia hit 26-of-32, including 10 straight from Albrecht in the final 1:20.
The Bison also handled the ball well, without a single turnover in the second half to 11 for Batavia.
But BG couldn't overcome a frigid night from the field: 17-of-59, including 2-of-17 from 3-point range.
Kevin Mulligan led the Bison in scoring with 12 points, followed by Mike Ricciardi (11) and DeSimone (10).
Albrecht scored 19 points and Bryant had 8 points, 12 rebounds and 3 steals before leaving with 1:57 left after a nasty collision cut his forehead.
Glenbrook South 58, Larkin 47: There may be a reason why Jack Cooley has the word "cool" in his last name.
Cooley, Glenbrook South's 6-foot-9 junior, created havoc inside, earning himself a double-double with 24 points and 15 rebounds to help Glenbrook South (4-11) defeat Larkin 58-47 in the 33rd Annual Elgin Holiday Tournament.
"We tried everything; we double-teamed him, we zoned him, we man-to-manned him. He's pretty good. He knows how to move around, and that's what we couldn't overcome," said Royals coach Larry Hight.
"They know how to use the big man."
Cooley started off the game missing easy baskets, but after a couple of misses, he warmed up, finishing with 14 first-half points either from foul shots or easy buckets around the hoop.
Once Cooley was asserted down low, a series of double and triple teams came his way, which allowed the Titans' outside shooters to get involved.
"If we open up the inside, that will help open up the outside. Once I start rolling, then they triple team me and I just kick out to our 3-point shooters," said Cooley.
And that's exactly what he did.
Cooley found light in teammate Ryan Hopkins, who hit two 3-pointers, and Anthony Brown, who added 12 points on open shots, which kept the Royals from making any sort of comeback.
"This win was really good for us. Hopefully it will spring board us to getting more wins and having a run," Cooley said.
Though Larkin (0-13) fought tooth-and-nail to stay in it, the Titans' defense wouldn't let Larkin find its shot. The Royals shot just 32 percent from the field.
"We had good shooting the first game of this tournament. Our shooting has left us," said Hight.
"The whole game changes when you hit shots."
The Royals got to within 4 in the second quarter, when Deonte McFadden drained a jumper, but failed to make a run after cutting the deficit in half. Cooley dominated the defensive end, blocking four shots near the basket, limiting the Royals inside scoring. Later on, Cooley laid down a two-handed sledgehammer-like dunk in the fourth to nail the coffin shut.
Brandon Cooks led Larkin with 10 points.
DGN 68, Bronzeville 38: Downers Grove North blew Chicago Military Academy out of the water. Deon Thomas finished with a game-high 21 points for the Mustangs, and Kameron Norton contributed 11 points.
Tracey Jones led Bronzeville with 13 points, while Marvin Jordan added 8 points.
Waukegan 44, Hoffman Estates 42: He couldn't have asked for a better look.
With Hoffman trailing Waukegan 44-42 with 4 seconds left in overtime, junior Luke Mead took the ball out of bounds underneath the Hawks' basket and found Casey Terry, who zipped a pass back to Mead at the three-point line.
Mead's high-arcing shot from the top of the key was on line, but the ball caromed off the rim.
"It's exactly the shot I wanted, I just missed it," said Mead, who hit two 3s and scored a team-high 12 points.
Mead and the Hawks (8-4) will get their final shot at Chesbrough Fieldhouse today at noon when they face Dundee-Crown (5-5) in the 11th-place game of the 33rd annual Elgin Holiday Tournament. Waukegan (7-6) plays Fremd (6-8) at 3:15 p.m. in the consolation championship.
The Hawks had a shot to win it in regulation with the game tied at 40-40, but after gaining possession with 1:09 left and working the ball around the perimeter, Hoffman didn't get a shot up, instead committing one of its 17 turnovers.
Waukegan sophomore Jereme Richmond picked up the loose ball in the lane, dribbled toward the Bulldogs' bench and missed a 30-foot floater at the buzzer.
"We go for the last shot or we'll go for something at the rim," said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro. "They didn't give us anything at the rim, so we went for the last shot. Unfortunately, we turned it over."
Richmond's layup gave Waukegan a 44-40 lead in overtime, but after sophomore Mike Springs missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Hoffman senior Ben Collins (11 points) drove in from the left baseline to pull the Hawks within 44-42 with 31 seconds left.
Richmond (game-high 16 points) missed his only free throw attempt of the game on a 1-and-1 opportunity, setting up the Hawks' final possession.
"The whole game (Mead) was hot and I thought that was going in," Richmond said. "Fortunately for us, it bricked off."
Fremd 41, D-C 39: The Fremd Vikings (6-8) were able to come up with a big defensive stand to hold on to a 41-39 win over the Dundee-Crown Chargers (5-5) Friday at 33rd annual Pepsi/Daily Herald Elgin Holiday Tournament.
With 17 seconds left in the game, the Chargers pulled within 1 point with a quick basket from Jeff Beck after a Vikings missed opportunity at the free-throw line. Dundee-Crown then fouled Dan Bruno, who made 1 of 2 from the line to put Fremd up 41-39.
The Chargers called their last timeout to set up a play for Beck, who had 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter. Beck got the ball, but Fremd surrounded him as he entered the lane and forced him to look to teammate Freddie Parson underneath the basket. The pass was deflected out of bounds with 2.2 seconds left in the game.
"We tried to set up a 1-4 flat to see if I could penetrate to the hoop and either pass it off to two of our big guys or to one of our shooters, but it got pretty clogged up in the middle we couldn't get anything," said Beck, who had all but 2 of the Chargers' fourth quarter points.
"We thought they were going to get the ball to (Beck) and run their flat play. (Beck) got the ball and I thought we defended it well," said Fremd head coach Bob Widlowski.
D-C still had one more chance on an inbounds play, but Fremd forced Parson to alter his shot that missed over the basket as the buzzer sounded.
Bruno had a game-high 16 points with 5 of his 7 fourth-quarter points on free throws down in crunch time and shooting 8 of 11 from the line in the game.
"We knew we could drive on this team and we just wanted to shoot a lot of free-throws because we are a good free throw shooting team," said Bruno.
Both teams struggled to get things going offensively at times with Bruno and Beck being the only two players in the game to reach double figures.
"It wasn't pretty, but we were pleased to come out of there with a win. The key was we got a couple stops there at the end when we needed them," said Widlowski. "Dundee-Crown kept coming, but we are very pleased we get to play for the consolation championship tomorrow."
Neuqua Valley 65, Rolling Meadows 55: Coffee won't do it. Neither will an extra few hours of sleep.
The only way to cure this kind of hangover is winning.
Just twenty-four hours after falling 65-55 to Highland Park and losing a shot at defending its Elgin Holiday Tournament title, Neuqua Valley easily could have sleepwalked and stumbled its way through Friday's match-up with Rolling Meadows (6-6). Instead, the energetic Wildcats looked alive and well as they sprinted past the Mustangs 65-55.
Neuqua Valley plays Rockford Auburn, a 78-74 overtime winner against Elgin (6-6), today at 5 p.m. in the 5th-place game.
"Coach (Todd Sutton) called it the losing hangover," said Neuqua Valley senior Dan Pawelski, who had 11 points, 5 rebounds and two blocks. "Yesterday was rough. It's hard to play today when you know you have no shot at winning it."
But any worries about a sluggish start were extinguished as Neuqua Valley (10-3) scorched the nets at Chesbrough Fieldhouse in the opening minutes, making five of its first six shots.
Junior Derek Raridon, who fouled out and scored only eight in the quarterfinal loss on Thursday, found all net on his first three attempts and scored 7 as the Wildcats ran out to an 11-4 lead. The 6-foot-5 forward finished with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
"We've been starting well, it's just the third quarters that are brutal," said Sutton, referring to Thursday's third quarter when his squad scored only five points. And Friday was a similar third-quarter story.
Back-to-back layups by Pawelski and senior TJ Jordan (13 points) gave Neuqua Valley its largest lead to that point at 47-37, but Meadows countered as senior Kyle Gaedele (team-high 17 points) and sophomore Richie Kemph each scored five during a 12-0 run.
"Being the sophomore on team, it's nice to finally be able to come out and show what I can do," Kemph said after nailing four 3-pointers and scoring a career-high 16 points.
But after Gaedele's 10-foot jumper in the lane gave the Mustangs their first lead at 49-47 with 7:36 remaining, Meadows couldn't do much right, as it was outscored 16-2 by the Wildcats over the next 6-plus minutes.
"We played hard, we just didn't play very smart at times," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich, whose team plays the host Maroons today at 1:30 p.m. "We're searching for some consistency from all of our guys."
Auburn 78, Elgin 74: As bad as it was in the first half Friday the Elgin boys basketball team was as equally good in the second half.
The Maroons scored only 22 points in the first half before rallying from a 15-point deficit to force overtime, but fell to Rockford Auburn, 78-74, at the 33rd annual Elgin Holiday Tournament.
"We just had no intensity in the first half," Elgin junior guard Tom Roth said. "We busted our butts (Thursday). A depressing loss carries over to the next day."
The loss was the second emotionally draining loss in as many days for the Maroons (6-6), who play Rolling Meadows at 1:30 p.m. today in the seventh-place game. Elgin lost to Batavia by two Thursday on a 3-pointer in the final 5 seconds.
This one hurt because of the effort the Maroons put into the second half after shooting only 8-for-23 in the first half and trailing 36-22 at halftime.
"Everyone pretty much had their heads down (at halftime)," said Elgin's Jeremy Granger, who finished with a team-high 22 points. "Coach (Mike Sitter) told us to get our heads up and play hard in the second half. I think we did that."
Auburn, which plays Neuqua Valley in the fifth-place game, increased its lead to 15, 41-26, after a 3-pointer by Darnell Van Vleet with 6:20 remaining in the third quarter. Van Vleet hit five 3-pointers and scored 25 points.
Elgin finally got going and went on a 17-5 run over the next 3½ minutes to cut the deficit to 46-43. Armani Williams scored 6 points during the run. Steve Edwards had 5 and Granger added 4 points in that span.
The Knights didn't panic. They were able to increase the lead back to 10, 58-48, heading into the fourth quarter. They scored the first 5 points of the fourth to again take a 15-point lead, 63-48.
After the teams traded baskets to make the score 67-52 with 5 minutes remaining, Granger and Williams combined to go an a 10-0 run and get the Maroons within 5, 67-62. Van Vleet ended the run with an offensive rebound and putback and make the score 69-62 with 1:45 left. Auburn did not score again in regulation.
Williams hit a free throw. Granger drove the lane and made a left-handed layup with 1:05 remaining as Elgin moved within 4, 69-65. Granger made 1 of 2 free throws with 41 seconds left. Roth stole the ball on the Knights' next possession, 1 of 10 Auburn turnovers in the fourth quarter. Roth then hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 21 seconds remaining to tie the game at 69-69.
"I got a good look. It felt good off the hand," Roth said.
The Knights stepped on the baseline, turning the ball over, with 5.8 seconds remaining. Roth inbounded to Williams, who brought the ball up court, and found Granger. But his 3-point attempt was short and sent the game to overtime.
Elgin earned its first lead of the game, 71-69, when Derell Howse put back an offensive rebound 40 seconds into overtime, which capped a 19-2 run. Auburn scored the next 5 points to take a 74-71 lead. Howse hit a 3-pointer with 1:24 remaining in overtime to again tie the game at 74-74, but the Maroons would not score again.
"I think this would be more maddening if this was February," Sitter said. "I still consider this the first third of the season. We'll improve as we get 15 strong."
Williams finished with 21 points. Howse and Edwards each had 9 points. Howse also had 8 rebounds.
Auburn's Keenan Knowles led all scorers with 26 points, 17 in the second half and overtime.
Wheaton North 65, Highland Park 54: John Bagge didn't have to be told that the Highland Park team he just played was unbeaten before Friday.
But all team nicknames aside, let's not label Wheaton North a giant-killer.
"We're 11-1," Bagge reminded those asking, "and we're confident with how we're playing right now. We don't feel there are many teams that can stop us when we're playing this way."
The Falcons made that point loud and clear Friday.
Bagge scored 21 points and fellow Wheaton North big man Tom Fitzpatrick 19 in the Falcons' convincing 65-54 win over Highland Park's Giants in the semifinals of the Elgin Holiday Tournament.
Wheaton North never trailed after the game's first minute, and led by as many as 19 in the first half.
The Falcons play Batavia, a 63-50 winner over Buffalo Grove, at 8 p.m. tonight for the Elgin championship.
"It's a great win for us right now, to beat a team like that," Falcons coach Jim Nazos said.
Wheaton North bolted out to a 22-8 lead after the first quarter, behind a sizzling 9 of 13 shooting from the field.
The Falcons hit 4 3-pointers in the quarter, 2 by Dave Pilalis. Fitzpatrick hit his first 5 shots, 3 from 3-point range. The 6-foot-8 senior had 13 points by half.
"We thought we knew who their shooters were," Highland Park coach Paul Harris said, "but then Fitzpatrick came out and made those 3s. That first quarter kind of set the tone for the game."
Wheaton North's biggest lead was 34-15 on a layup by Zach Dungee with 1:50 left in the half, and the margin was 34-18 at the break.
Highland Park (11-1) made 12 3-pointers, but only 4 in the first half. Wheaton North held top guns Chris Wroblewski and Josh Bartelstein to 5 points apiece in the first half. They finished with 16 and 15, respectively.
"We were able to kind of slow them up a little bit," Nazos said. "They're so good -- I don't think you can ever stop them offensively."
Highland Park pulled to within 44-35 after three quarters, but Wheaton North responded by scoring the first 7 points of the fourth quarter.
Fitzgerald punctuated the run with a two-handed breakaway dunk on a loose ball that Pilalis tipped away.
Pilalis added 12 points and Kristian Rosenberger 7 for Wheaton North. The Falcons, who lost to Neuqua Valley in the tournament semifinals last year, can win their first title at Elgin since 2001 tonight.
"Last year we played a very experienced and very good Neuqua team, and lost. This year we feel like we've kind of taken on that role as the experienced team," Fitzpatrick said. "We took a big step forward tonight."
Compiled by Jaci Corn