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Cortez-Harvey stepping up in a big way for St. Edward

A 5-foot-9 junior playing in his third varsity season, Cortez-Harvey enters Friday's Metro Suburban West matchup at Aurora Central Catholic averaging 20 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 2.5 assists.

"I think he's an all-state guard," White said. "The problem is we don't have the wins, the team record to get the votes. But he's got to get something. I mean, he's dominated every game that we've played in. Even when we played (Metro Suburban West leader) Riverside-Brookfield (17-4) he had 29 points. He's a very good player."

White said Cortez-Harvey's game has taken a step forward this season due to a more consistent performance from 3-point range, where he shoots 31 percent. He entered the week as a 54-percent shooter on 2-point attempts.

"He's always been able to take the ball coast to coast and score, but now he can step back and shoot the 3," White said. "So you have to come out on him, which allows him to go by you and go to the basket. And he's left-handed, which gives him a little bit of an edge sometimes."

Cortez-Harvey is beginning to accept the mantle of leadership, though that role is a work in progress.

"I'm trying to be a leader more, be more vocal," the South Elgin resident said. "I'm still not that good at that. I'm working at it."

Cortez-Harvey also needs help from the rest of the Green Wave. Only senior guard Adam Radcliffe joins him with a double-figure scoring average (10.3). Cortez-Harvey and Radcliffe scored 19 apiece and senior forward Andrew O'Neill chipped in 11 points on Tuesday when the Green Wave upset second-place Glenbard South 61-47

"It's the old Michael Jordan thing - you need help to get over the top," White said. "That's what we had (against Glenbard South)."

Floor time: A team that can't get enough practice is the good problem Kaneland coach Joe Conroy faced this week ahead of Friday's home game against Northern Illinois Big 12-East leader DeKalb (21-3, 9-0).

Kaneland (13-6, 6-2) had won 6 straight until Tuesday's 59-55 conference crossover hiccup against Ottawa (13-8). After reviewing film of that game on Wednesday, the Knights made a list of things they had to improve upon and began working on them in practice.

"We were about to end the practice and the guys said "No, coach, this is good. Let's keep going,'" Conroy said. "I think that's a sign of maturity and a sign of a hungry team. It's nice to know we came off that loss and they're even hungrier than before."

An improving defense was the catalyst behind the 6-game winning streak. In 4 straight losses between Dec. 28 and Jan. 8, the Knights allowed 57.5 points per game. In the 6 victories that followed, Kaneland limited opponents to 43.5 points while winning by an average of 13.5.

"That's more in tune with the philosophy that we tried to bring as a coaching staff," Conroy said. "It just took the guys awhile to figure it out. Our defense has really been working hard to create points for our offense.

"We're also running and pressing a big and we've done some things in the half court that have helped us. Before we were too stagnant. We're not walking the ball up. We're pushing it a bit."

The Knights are led offensively by 6-foot-4 senior Ryan David (14 ppg), 6-2 senior Dylan Vaca (12.7) and 5-8 senior guard Mark Lilly (8.0).

Kaneland will need all the firepower it can muster against a tough schedule to close the regular season. The Knights face road games at Geneseo (8-13), West Chicago (17-5) and Sterling (16-6) and home games against Yorkville (10-12) and NIB 12-West leader LaSalle-Peru (19-1).

Pushing back: Hampshire looks to muscle up as the season winds down.

In practices leading up to last weekend's nonconference game against Burlington Central, Whip-Purs coach Ben Whitehouse asked his players to adopt a more physical brand of basketball, saying physicality was an aspect of the game in which his team had been lacking.

The philosophical shift seems to be paying early dividends. Though Hampshire on Saturday was unable to upset arguably the best Burlington Central team in that school's history, the Whips stormed to a 9-point lead at one point and played well in stretches of a 60-56 loss.

"This was the first game we've played all year where we were physical for four quarters with five guys on the floor being physical," Whitehouse said afterward. "That's the biggest change we see need to make and we're working on it. This was a good first step. If we can make that step with that talent that we have - if we can match the other team's physicality - we'll be in some good ballgames against some good teams."

Hampshire (6-17) held St. Francis to 50 points on Monday to win a nonconference game by 8. Junior Brennen Woods led the offense with 20 points.

"If our defense is good, it translates to our offense," Woods said Saturday after scoring 22 points against Central. "Physical defense has been a struggle for us, but we're trying to improve that for the playoffs."

Hampshire is one of 11 teams assigned to sub-sectional A of the Class 3A Woodstock North sectional, a grouping that includes Aurora Central Catholic (12-10), Burlington Central (22-2), Marmion (10-13), Kaneland (13-6) and Wheaton Academy (9-13).

Ready, aim, fire: Marmion sharpshooter Hunter Weber has taken aim at the school record books in his second varsity season.

The 5-foot-10 senior guard set the program record for career 3-pointers last Friday in a loss to Loyola Academy when he sank 3 attempts from long range.

Weber canned 6 more 3-pointers the following night in a win over Aurora Christian, giving him 127 for his career. That tops the previous record of 120 set by 2000 graduate Andy Madden.

Weber entered last weekend's action shooting 36.4 percent from beyond the arc (59 of 162).

"He worked really hard this summer," Marmion coach Joe Currie said. "Last year he was primarily just a 3-point shooter, but he's tried to create more types of shots and that has benefitted him because teams have to sag a bit more on him than they want to. That gives him the clearance to get his threes off. Give him credit; he knew the challenge ahead and went after it."

Weber still has some work to do to match the single-season record for 3-pointers of 93 held by Eddy Grahovec.

Game of the Week: Saturday's nonconference matinee between Elgin and Jacobs in Algonquin (2:30 p.m.) will be filmed by Comcast as part of its Game of the Week series. The game will air on CN100 on delay on Sunday at noon and 4 p.m. and on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

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