Hersey, Wheeling start out with victories
A balanced scoring effort helped Hersey's boys basketball team get off to a winning start Monday in tournament play at Niles West on Monday.
Joe Coffaro led the way with 14 points, which included a 6-for-6 effort at the foul line, as the Huskies prevailed 56-51 against Glenbrook North.
Michael Lelito canned three 3s for Hersey and finished with 13 points, and Zack Cooper (10 points) and Mark Milligan (8) also had significant scoring games.
As a team, the Huskies finished 11-for-13 at the foul line.
Glenbrook North was led by Michael Stachnik with 16 points.
Wheeling 55, Vernon Hills 44: Senior forward Patrick Szpir scored 15 points to pace Wheeling in a victory over Vernon Hills at Northridge Prep in Battle of the Ridge tournament play in coach Michael O'Keeffe's varsity coaching debut.
Senior guard Michael Dougherty scored 14 points for Vernon Hills.
TJ Best made a pair of 3s and finished with 14 points for Wheeling, while Jalen Dennis (11 points) and Nick Janulis (10) also scored in double figures for the Wildcats.
Uplift 64, Elk Grove 56: The task of opening the season against the defending Class 2A champions was tough enough for Elk Grove as the Grenadiers opened the season at the Mundelein Tournament.
To make things even more difficult, the Grens found themselves down 20 in the third quarter to the Titans. But Elk Grove answered with a 25-7 run, cutting the margin to 56-53 with 2:02 to play. That was as close as the Grens got in a 64-56 loss.
"Our own worst enemy in the first half was our offense," Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman said. "But we hit a 3 and cut it to 3 and just ran out of time at the end."
Senior Fulton Wingba was a big factor for the Grens with a team-best 22 points, including four 3s. Fellow senior Joey Gatziolis tallied 15 for Elk Grove.
Uplift junior Demarius Jacobs led all scorers with 25. Uplift won this tournament a year ago.
Barrington 54, McHenry 43: Will Reinhard finished with a game-high 20 points and led a strong team performance at the foul line with a 6-for-6 effort as the Broncos started their season with a victory in tournament play at Crystal Lake Central.
Ben Weber hit three 3s and had 19 points for the Broncos, who finished 19-for-25 on free throws.
Reinhard had 11 points in the first quarter as Barrington quickly opened up a 24-10 lead.
St. Joseph 38, Schaumburg 34: The Saxons came up short in Wade Heisler's debut as head coach against the perennially strong Chargers in tournament play at St. Charles East.
Marmion 89, Christian Liberty 54: Mick Johnson, Marmion's 6-foot-8, 235-pound sophomore, made a pretty good impression in the Cadets' 89-54 decision over Christian Liberty at the Buffalo Grove Bison Tournament.
Johnson, in his first varsity start, scored 13 points and pulled down 7 rebounds.
"For his first game, he did well," said Cadets coach Joe Currie. "He's going to be a presence for us in the middle. Johnson worked real hard on his shooting in the summer. I'm OK with our first game. I like the makeup with this team."
The Cadets broke out to a 7-0 lead, and Marmion led 27-14 after the first quarter and 50-26 at halftime.
Hunter Weber led Marmion with 16 points, including 4 of the Cadets' 11 3-point baskets. Myles Schoonover also scored 13 points. Mat Fletcher was Marmion's leading rebounder with 9 to go along with 8 points.
"Coach Currie did a great job preparing me for the season," said Johnson. "I just wanted to play hard and the best I could to help my teammates. What I think I could do to help this year is to rebound and help on defense."
While the Chargers were outmanned, they did put together some nice efforts.
Junior Mark Cabrera led Christian Liberty with 14 points, and James Pittman had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Christian Liberty connected on 7 of 13 3-point attempts.
Christian Liberty plays Niles North at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Marmion will take on Grayslake Central, which topped the host Bison 61-45.