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Fremd mixes it up for 23rd win

Which ingredients does it take to make a boys basketball team succeed?

Naturally talent is at the core.

However, there are always the intangibles that apply on and off the court for a team to win.

The Fremd Vikings have that recipe.

Coach Bob Widlowski started reserves Joseph Weber, Conner Peters, and John Magnani along with regulars Riley Glassmann and Ben Carlson in Saturday's nonconference game against Dundee-Crown in Palatine.

For most of the game, the coach interchanged most of the players with two of the regular starters remaining on the floor as Fremd swept away visiting Dundee-Crown, 48-24.

The Vikings stayed unbeaten in 23 games while the Chargers fell to 6-16.

"Every senior had started a game at different times this season," said Widlowski. "Our sub players have been huge for us all season. A lot of them stepped up when someone was out with an injury. There is always competition in practice and that's been the key for us all year long."

Senior Conner Peters helped the Vikings get off to a good start, scoring all six of his points during an early 10-2 run to start the game.

Fremd led 17-8 after one quarter and 25-11 at halftime. Matt Ochoa scored six of 10 points to help Fremd ease away.

Riley Glassmann, who led the hosts with 18 points, scored 11 in the third quarter as the Vikes built a 40-18 lead.

"Some teams call themselves bench players," Peters said. "But we call ourselves subs. It was a nice gesture by coach to start us tonight. We showed the work that we do in practice with the starters. That has helped us be a 23-0 team. We've said it all year that we're a team and a family. As an example, we're going to Riley's house for a team get together."

Center Ben Carlson of Fremd echoed the praise.

"Our sub players just make us better," Carlson said. "They beat us up in practice. It was well deserved that they had a chance to start. Tonight, it was different players but the same mentality. We wouldn't be were we are without them."

Justin Stewart scored 6 points for the Chargers. Conner Steinmetz added 4 but pulled down 7 of D-C's 19 rebounds.

"Conner played well inside for us," said Chargers coach Lance Huber. "It was a nice positive. Fremd was just physically better than us. We were hoping to give them a test. It was a good game for us because they are very physical and we know when the state tournament starts we want to be able to play a little physical."

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