Christmas tournaments give teams an opportunity to get a sense of what they’re at before they reset with the start of the New Year and really hone in on conference races.
At 9-1, Neuqua Valley owns the best record of the area teams and will join the likes of Geneva, East Aurora, Aurora Central Catholic in the eight-team field over at East Aurora from Dec. 26-27, 29-30.
North Central College-bound senior Connor Raridon leads the Wildcats in scoring at 17.5 points per game while Demond George is the only other Wildcat in double figures at 11.5 as the Wildcats have used a balanced offensive attack and an increased emphasis on rebounding to overwhelm opponents.
“Nice start. Nice start. We’ve worked hard to get to that point, so we’re really proud of them,” Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said after his team’s 15-point victory at Waubonsie Valley on Saturday. “They deserve it. You see the effort they put out on the court. If you work that hard, you need some reward.”
The program Neuqua Valley beat in the semifinals of the Hoops for Healing Thanksgiving Tournament, Benet, will make the trek to Pontiac after several years of participating in the prestigious Proviso West Holiday Tournament, which included winning it behind David Soboloewski and Frank Kaminsky in 2010.
The Redwings will join a field that routinely features the likes of Simeon, Curie and West Aurora in a 16-team field that will compete from Dec. 29-31.
Given two weeks off between its final game at the Hoops for Healing Thanksgiving Tournament, a 56-51 loss in overtime to Naperville Central, Benet (6-2) has won its last four games while allowing three of the four opponents to not reach 35 points.
The four-game winning streak has seen the Redwings’ defense clamp down by limiting Joliet Catholic, York, Marian Catholic and Conant to an average of 34 points a game.
“It’s helped us defensively. We’ve played much better defense in the last few games. Still trying to find a way to generate more scoring,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said of the break. “But overall it’s helped us.”
Not having the likes of Soboloewski, Kaminsky, Pat McInerney and Sean O’Mara has made the Redwings more of a perimeter team than they’ve been in years’ past.
Because of the relative inexperience of most of the group he’s working with this year, Heidkamp knows his team will be better in late January and early February than it is now.
“The margin for error is slim and we know that. We’re going to have to be better defensively. We’re going to have to generate points on the offensive boards. We’re going to have to shoot well,” he said. “We’re going to have to take good shots. We’re going to have to play really, really solid basketball and if one of those areas isn’t going for us, it’s going to be hard for us to win, especially against the teams that we play. So we just have to be more consistent in every phase of the game.”
Naperville Central Coach Gets 200th Win
Fresh off getting 12th-year coach Pete Kramer his 200th career victory with a 47-43 triumph over Wheaton North Friday, Naperville Central helped snap a four-game stretch where it had lost three of four games.
The Redhawks (8-4) go to the Wheeling Hardwood Classic from Dec. 22-23, 26-27 and have claimed third place each of the last two years after winning the tournament in 2011.
A six-game winning streak earlier in the year, sparked by the likes of senior Nate Dahl and junior guard Matthew Meier, the Redhawks’ top two scorers at 13 and 12.4 points per game, respectively, showed the capabilities Kramer’s young charges possess.
“I think our kids are really starting to understand our matchup zone and what we want to do with it,” Kramer said. “They’re getting better and better at it and that’s going to help us down the road.”
But it may be the presence of junior big man Harry Hallstrom that might be as big of a factor as any in regards to their collective development over the rest of the year.
Hallstrom, who tallied 18 points in the four-point victory over Wheaton North, is averaging 9.4 points while pulling down 4.7 rebounds a game.
“He played really well. I mean, it’s just the best game he’s played and he’s just starting to feel more comfortable. He’s starting to look to score more, be aggressive at attacking the basket,” Kramer said. “He’s very athletic for his 6-7 frame. He’s starting for feel more comfortable and I think he’s starting to do that and he’s starting to realize that we need him to score. We want him to score. He doesn’t have to take a back seat to Dahl or Meier. I mean, he’s one of our three kids who have to score every night.”
41st annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic
Half of the area’s teams are headed over to York to play in the 41st annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic, which runs Dec. 26-27, 29-31.
Waubonsie Valley (3-7) resides at the top of the bracket while Naperville North (5-4) and Metea Valley (5-4) are the same side of the 32-team bracket.
Behind 22 points from Chris Karkazis, Waubonsie Valley snapped a four-game losing streak with a 53-43 victory at Glenbard East on Friday.
A night later, the Warriors came home and lost by 15 to Neuqua Valley but Karkazis and second-year coach Chaz Taft are both focused on getting better as a team daily as opposed to the record.
“I’m not even worried about the record. I’m just worried about the kids getting better. I mean, we got 10 guys who have no experience on the varsity level,” Taft said on Saturday. “I’m just glad, not glad, but I’m just happy each and every day, we’re coming to practice and working hard.”
“You can see it out on the floor. We’re getting better. The kids are getting more comfortable. This is a big game (against Neuqua Valley) that they got to learn to play in front of. We got to go to their place and play, so I just think we need to get better in practice every day, every game we play.”
Meanwhile, the Huskies have won three straight games since their 2-4 start, including picking up road victories over both Naperville Central and Wheaton Warrenville South.
Senior Baylor Griffin and junior Jelani McClain sparked them to the victory at Naperville Central by combining for 24 points while Zach Tuxhorn’s 13 points led the way in a 14-point victory against the Tigers Friday.
But Huskies’ coach Jeff Powers might be even more excited about the youth they have, which is continuing to grow and learn on the fly.
“It took a little bit for them to understand the intensity they have to play with,” Powers said. “But you saw (against Naperville Central) how quick Cam Hardy is and he moves and he defends and you saw that we have a pretty special player with Mitch (Lewis). They finally understand how hard they have to play to compete and they have the tools.
“They’re just learning how to play hard now and the right way and the team way. But they were very (good). Both of those guys were very instrumental (in the win) and I think that’s one of the things that they now figured it out—how hard they have to play to compete.”
Metea Valley recovered from a lopsided loss at West Aurora by getting 26 points and 13 rebounds from senior center Mark Konkle in their 83-51 victory at South Elgin on Friday and heads to the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic for a second straight year after a 3-1 effort in 2013.
Through nine games, Konkle, who has received football scholarship offers from Minnesota State, Butler and Hillsdale College, is averaging 15.7 points and 7.2 rebounds a game.
For a program that prides itself at annually being in the Upstate Eight Valley race, an opportunity to compete against the field the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic will help in the long run.
“It was a tough matchup, I thought, preparing for South Elgin. Just going on the road and playing as well as we did, it’s a nice feeling to be able to take and go in a positive direction leading towards a tournament,” Metea Valley coach Bob Vozza said. “It’s a high quality tournament. No matter who we play on those four days, it’s going to be a great game and hopefully we keep going in that direction. But I’m pleased with where we’re at and kind of where we’re headed.”
