Fremd bounces back, downs Hersey
One day made a big difference in the scorebook for Fremd's boys basketball team.
After struggling with their scoring on Friday, the Vikings were able to get things revved up again Saturday against Hersey. Fremd had 10 different players score as the Vikings pulled away from Hersey 56-43 Saturday in a Mid-Suburban crossover game in Palatine.
"It was better execution tonight for us," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski, whose team scored just 35 points in its loss to Palatine on Friday.
"We gave a very good effort against Palatine. I thought we got sped up against them. Tonight we had very good offensive execution. Today is a fresh day. They came in this morning with a great attitude and it was on to the next contest."
There was a huge difference for the Vikings in their second-quarter scoring from Friday to Saturday. On Friday, Fremd managed just 3 points compared with the 20 the Vikings tallied on Saturday as they knocked down 7 of 10 shots from the field.
"That second quarter is the way we want to play basketball," Widlowski said. "We moved the ball well and made our shots."
Max Wexley led the Vikings with 16 points, including 10 in that second quarter thanks to a pair of 3-pointers.
"I got my shot going early and that opened up the game for me," said Wexley, who also had 6 rebounds. "It is just mindset. We were just playing freely and having some fun out there."
With the hot shooting, Fremd (13-9) was able to surge to score more points in the first half than it did all of Friday as the Vikings took a 34-22 halftime advantage.
Wexley knocked down his third trey of the game as the Vikings led 37-24 early in the third quarter.
Hersey (7-14), which has struggled as of late, began to fight back. Jack Muglia and Scott Rogowski each hit a shot and Daniel Clawson knocked down a 3 from the corner and the Huskies pulled to within 37-31.
Tafara Okammor came off the bench for Fremd and sparked the Vikings with a trio of baskets inside as the Vikings went on an 8-2 run to make it 45-33 early in the fourth quarter.
Hersey got the lead down to 9 on two separate occasions after that. Fremd ended any idea of a Hersey comeback when the Vikings pulled the ball out. That enabled them to get to the basket for layups as Fremd scored 9 unanswered points to put the game away.
"I think we just came out with more confidence tonight," said Fremd's Jake Schoffstall, who scored four of those points and finished with 13.
"We shot the ball well and our bench shot the ball well too. We have to run our offense tighter and I think we did that tonight."
Clawson led Hersey with 9 points, Muglia had 8 points and Rogowski finished with 7 points for the Huskies.
"Fremd is a blueprint of success in this area," Hersey coach Austin Scott said. "And they showed us why tonight. You can't give up 56 points to Fremd and expect to win."