St. Charles E. likes move to Proviso West
St. Charles East is among eight new boys basketball teams that will join an expanded Proviso West Holiday Tournament, tournament executive director Joe Spagnolo announced last Thursday.
Spagnolo revealed eight of the newcomers that would comprise part of the 32-team field in 2012.
St. Charles East (8-7), which played at Glenbard West this year after several seasons at York, is among them.
“I think it’s a great thing, it’s a great opportunity,” said Saints coach Patrick Woods, who added that it’s a two-year contract. “It’ll force us to play at a higher level, I hope. The competition is going to be tough.”
Wheaton Academy, Glenbard East, Downers Grove South, Oswego and Nazareth are among the new teams to have signed on at Proviso West, according to Spagnolo’s release. Woods said one or two teams from this year’s field may be out, but a group that includes Benet, Homewood-Flossmoor, Rockford Auburn and this year’s champion and runner-up — Proviso East and New Trier — make Proviso, along with Pontiac, the two highest-profile tourneys in the state.
Woods doesn’t believe Proviso’s cachet will drop regardless of the expansion.
“The people who are going there, there are not going to be any slouch teams there,” said Woods, who at the time of enlisting was told the field would stick at 16.
“I’m OK with that,” he said of the 32-team alignment.
The Saints went 3-1 at Glenbard West in December, none of their first three games decided by less than 3 points. Pool-play tiebreakers with fellow 2-1 teams Timothy Christian and Wheaton Academy sent the Saints to the fifth-place game, where they beat West Chicago 73-64 in overtime.
“I thought they did a nice job running it,” Woods said. “It was a decent tournament, obviously we played three really close games in it and came out 3-1.”
The Proviso West Holiday Tournament, which features alumni such as Isiah Thomas, Kevin Garnett, Jerel McNeal, Hersey Hawkins, Jeff Hornacek, Juwan Howard and Doc Rivers, showcases top individual as well as team talent. St. Charles East’s Purdue-bound Kendall Stephens and sophomore Dominic Adduci will get to run the same floor as those players.
“We need to play at a higher level in order to reach a higher level,” Woods said. “We could go to a tournament and pad out our wins. I’m not really into padding our wins... We’re trying to get to the next level.”
The Proviso West bracket will expand for the first time since 1962, when the field doubled to 16 teams from eight in its 1961 debut. The 2012 tourney will run six days, starting on Dec. 22, going from 26-29 and finishing on the afternoon of Dec. 31.
Nonconference beasts
Headed by divisional leader Rochelle, the teams in the Northern Illinois Big 12 East have done a good job not only beating each other up, but also foes outside the division.
Rochelle, Kaneland, Morris and Yorkville all have at least 10 victories already this season. Only DeKalb and Sycamore own records (well) below .500.
Locally, this rivals the strong Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division, which has five of seven teams above .500 led by 16-1 Metea Valley, rated 10th in this week’s Associated Press Class 4A poll.
Back in action
Aurora Central (6-10) is now in position for a final stretch run, having returned seniors Paul Kaminski and Robert DeMyers to the court after recuperating more than a month from injuries.
The pair of senior starting forwards returned in last Friday’s 59-57 win at Marian Central.
The 6-foot-3 Kaminski, who dislocated a thumb Dec. 3 at St. Francis and tried to return quickly to no avail, scored 6 points with 3 rebounds at Marian Central.
The 6-foot-5 DeMyers, who had been averaging more than 12 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks when he fractured a fibula Dec. 6 against Plainfield Central, scored 9 points with 6 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 assists against Marian Central. He followed with 2 points, 3 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 assists in an 80-54 loss to Marshall, and scored 10 points in the Chargers’ 58-48 win Tuesday over Chicago Christian.
“He played 20 minutes (against Marian) and said it felt fine. Was good the next day, too,” Chargers coach Nathan Drye said of DeMyers. “Kaminski played, too, and is 100 percent.”
When both players were active, ACC’s overall record was 3-2, and it had just dealt St. Francis its sole loss in the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division. The Chargers now stand at 2-3 in the SCC Blue.