Boys basketball: Scouting the Class 1-2A postseason in the Fox Valley

Class 1A Mooseheart regional

Pairings: Monday - Game 1) No. 4 Islamic Foundation School vs. No. 5 Elgin Academy (2-17), 6 p.m.; Game 2) No. 3 Harvest Christian Academy (15-13) vs. No. 6 Lombard College Prep (2-10), 7:30 p.m.; Tuesday - No. 1 Westminster Christian (20-6) vs. Winner Game 1, 6 p.m.; No. 2 Mooseheart (17-10) vs. Winner Game 2, 7:30 p.m.; Friday - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 for the regional title.

Outlook: Westminster Christian has won 20 games for the fourth time in hall-of-fame coach Bruce Firchau's 10 seasons at the Elgin private school and seeks its second straight regional title. If seeds hold, the Warriors will have to defeat the defending Class 1A state champions on their home court in the regional title game to advance. "We have great respect for that," Firchau said. "We know nothing will be given to us. We'll have to earn it with four quarters of good basketball if we do play Mooseheart. They've played a good schedule, but so have we. I think we're up to the challenge."

Westminster Christian is led by forward Sam Carani, who averages 15.5 points. The 6-foot-4 senior has canned 42 of 109 attempts from 3-point range (38.5 percent). Dillon Rejman is one of the most accurate shooters in the area. The 6-1 guard averages 12.5 points, thanks to 43.4-shooting from 3-point range (66 of 152) and 90-percent shooting from the free-throw line (36 of 40). Rejman also averages 4.8 assists and 2.2 steals. Senior forward Robert Kleczynski contributes 10.9 points and 3 assists per game.

The Warriors defeated the Red Ramblers 53-38 on Dec. 18 at Mooseheart. "We played our worst game of the season against Westminster," Mooseheart coach Ron Ahrens said. "Our top scorers struggled in that game. Josh Gordon scored 5 points and Ceda Makindu did not score. We're playing a lot better now than we played in December."

Harvest Christian coach Scott Cork concedes his team knows little about Lombard College Prep "We're going in blind," said the first-year coach, who guided his squad to a winning record after a 2-7 start. A win in Monday's opener would advance the Lions to a semifinal against host Mooseheart, which defeated Harvest Christian 52-31 on Dec. 5. "That's a tall task in itself," Cork said of facing the Red Ramblers. "They like the 1-3-1 trap and they're long and tall. But they are young. We'll try to spread it out and get them to shoot from the outside instead of inside." That won't be easy since the Lions will be at a height disadvantage; their two tallest players were dismissed from the team within the last month. Senior guard Noah Fox leads Harvest Christian with 14.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Two weeks ago he scored 42 points in a win over Faith Lutheran.

Mooseheart isn't the top seed, but that won't alter the mindset of the defending state champs. "I think we can compete all the way through the regional with what these guys went through in the tournament last year," Ahrens said. "If we're lucky enough to get to the sectional, I think we can compete with the teams we'd meet there. We are a team that has been there before and that will be beneficial to us."

Advancement: The Mooseheart regional winner advances to the Harvest Christian sectional against the winner of the Chicago Holy Trinity regional on Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. The top seeds in the other three regionals are Rockford Christian Life, Luther North and St. Francis de Sales.

Class 2A Lisle regional

Pairings: Monday - Game 1) No. 4 Chicago Christian (13-12) vs. No. 5 Lisle (10-14), 6 p.m.; Game 2) No. 3 IC Catholic Prep (13-12) vs. No. 6 Westmont (8-17), 7:30 p.m.; Tuesday - No. 1 St. Edward (21-5) vs. Winner Game 1, 6 p.m.; No. 2 Aurora Christian (19-6) vs. Winner Game 2, 7:30 p.m.; Friday - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 for the regional title.

Outlook: Is this the year St. Edward makes a postseason run? Maybe, but despite winning 20 or more games for the third straight season the top seed is adhering to the golden rule of sport by approaching this regional one game at a time. And for a valid reason: the Elgin Catholic school has not won a playoff game since it last won a regional title under former coach Keith Chuipek in the 2008-09 season. That year, the Green Wave defeated Aurora Christian 59-51 to win the regional. Those teams would meet again in the Lisle title game if seeds hold, but St. Edward coach P.J. White acknowledges his team can't look any further than Tuesday's matchup against the winner of Monday's game between Chicago Christian and Lisle.

"From our perspective, our No. 1 goal is to win a regional game," White said. "After we win a game we'll concentrate on winning a regional. I think that's very doable, but every year we've been to the regional we've been beaten. I mean, we've been in there with pretty much the same group the last few years and we haven't won a game. It's been difficult. We could play IC for the fourth time and Aurora Christian for the second time so you just never know. It's always hard to play a team in the regular season and turn around and play them in the regional."

The Green Wave did not play Chicago Christian or Lisle in the regular season. They did play ICCP three times and won all three meetings, most recently a 61-57 overtime win in Elmhurst on Feb. 4. The fact that sub-.500 Lisle defeated ICCP 53-51 in Lisle on Jan. 13 caught White's attention. "We got the No. 1 seed and I think that was probably warranted," he said, "but on any night any of these teams could beat us because we're all so evenly matched. It's a hard regional to get out of. There's no one at the bottom and no one at the top."

St. Edward is led by third-year varsity forward Nick Duffy (6-foot-4) and the guard trio of senior ball distributor Gino Domel (9.5 ppg), senior shooting guard Joe French (12 ppg) and dynamic sophomore Kelvin Cortez-Harvey (10.9 ppg). Duffy leads the Green Wave in scoring (16.1) and rebounding (6.6) and shoots 54 percent from the field (168 of 309). Domel sinks 33 percent of his 3-point attempts (34 of 103). Cortez-Harvey is a 32-percent shooter from beyond the arc (37 of 117). French leads the team with 107 assists and shoots 29.1-percent from 3-point range (37 of 127).

Advancement: The Lisle regional winner advances to the El Paso-Gridley sectional against the winner of the Peru St. Bede regional on Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. The top seeds in the other regionals are Illiana Christian, Reed-Custer and Fieldcrest.

Darryl Mellema contributed to this report