Fremd’s balance shows against Barrington
A balanced offensive attack is what every coach at virtually every level of team sports dreams of.
An opponent might have a star defense player or a great defensive scheme, but with balance and depth the offense can prevail in every circumstance.
Fremd showed that kind of balance in a 61-40 Mid-Suburban League West victory over Barrington on Friday night in Palatine.
“No one on our team is really that selfish,” senior Fremd guard Garrett Groot said. “We try to balance it out. We work off of our defense. We try to get turnovers and get layups on transition so everyone is scoring.”
Fremd had 6 players score 5 or more points, led by Riley Glassmann with 14, Matt Ochoa with 10, and Ben Carlson with 9.
“I thought the guys off the bench did a great job,” Fremd coach Bob Widlowski said. “I thought Jalon Roundy played really well. Groot got in early foul trouble and Jalon Roundy came in and played well for us. Conner Peters came in and played well for us. Tommy Cordell did a really nice job.
“The end of that first quarter was key, getting to extend that lead.”
The Vikings were able to push an early 11-4 lead to 22-8 at the end of the first quarter.
Carlson exemplified the balanced attack with 4 rebounds and 4 assists to go along with his 9 points. Fremd (14-0, 4-0) ran a lot of its offense through Carlson — a 6-foot-6 forward — in the high post and on the perimeter.
“They had some bigs, and we really wanted to attack their bigs and make them play,” Carlson said. “Today it was getting it to me in with a high-low, or up top with me shooting it. I guess today, the game plan was kind of to get the ball to me and work against their big guys.”
After putting on an impressive offensive display, Groot, Carlson, and Widlowski all said the spark for Fremd this year has been on defense.
“We pride ourselves on our full-court defense,” Groot said. “Where we try to separate ourselves from other teams is in our intensity in the full court. We try to create turnovers. We win off of our defense.”
Senior guard Austin Madrzyk scored a game-high 15 points for Barrington (8-10, 2-2), and sophomore forward Rapolas Ivanauskas scored 14 points.
“They were definitely the best defensive team, the best rebounding team on the floor,” Barrington coach Bryan Tucker said of Fremd. “They ran the floor in transition better than us. Those are three pretty important phases of the game.”
Barrington came in on a four-game winning streak and the Vikings were able to show that their hot start to the season was no fluke in beating a tough opponent.
“We’ve been consistent defensively,” Widlowski said of what has gotten his team to this point in the season without a loss. “That has been the mainstay. We hope we continue to approach it like that. That would be the key for us.
“I think that our senior leadership has been very strong and very focused, which has made it a good preparation week every week.”