Vernon Hills earns 3A regional final berth
Vernon Hills' boys basketball team advanced to the Class 3A Elmwood Park regional final with a 37-34 victory over the host school Wednesday.
The fifth-seeded Cougars (14-16) got 14 points from Jack O'Connell and 13 from Michael Dougherty.
Vernon Hills advances to a matchup with Ridgewood (15-12), the No. 4 seed in the Ridgewood sectional, at 7 p.m. Friday at Elmwood Park.
Jack O'Connell scored 14 points for Vernon Hills. Michael Dougherty added 13 for the Cougars.
Leading the way in scoring for ninth-seeded Elmwood Park (12-14) was Anthony Perodin with a game-high 15 points.
Vernon Hills limited Elmwood Park to 13-for-39 shooting from the field and forced it into 18 turnovers.
Class 4A Barrington regional: Fremd, the No. 2 seed in the boys basketball sectional it will host next week, took a successful first postseason step at the regional level by topping No. 18 seed Wheeling 66-48 on Wednesday at Barrington.
Coach Bob Widlowski's team improved to 22-6 and advanced to a Friday regional final against Mid-Suburban East co-champion Prospect.
Ryan Caulfield scored a team-high 18 points for Wheeling (8-19), and TJ Best had 10. Both hit a pair of 3s for first-year coach Michael O'Keeffe.
"I think Benka and Dompke did a real nice job in the post in the first half," said Widlowski. "We need to string together more stops in a row. We pride ourselves on defense."
Class 4A at McHenry: Hersey's boys basketball season came to an end Wednesday night in a 63-56 loss to Lake Park in Class 4A regional semifinal play.
The Lancers, seeded No. 6 in the Fremd sectional, were led by 19 points from Bailey Vance and got 14 from Dan Hynes.
Lake Park (17-10) advances to meet No. 3 seed Lake Zurich (22-9) in Friday's 7 p.m. regional title matchup at McHenry.
The McHenry regional champion will meet the Barrington regional winner sectional semifinal play at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Fremd.
Hersey (14-14), seeded No. 11, got 19 points from Mark Milligan and 15 from Kenneth Hasley.