advertisement

Fremd battles past WW South to reach Fenton title game

Morning walk-throughs can make a difference between a win and a loss.

Fremd boys basketball coach Bob Widlowski emphasized Friday morning's walk-through which led to a 52-44 win over Wheaton Warrenville South.

The win finds the 3-0 Vikings facing the 3-0 Rolling Meadows Mustangs for Fenton's 34th annual Chuck Mitchell Tournament championship at 7 p.m. Saturday in Bensenville.

Fremd won back-to-back championships in 2013 and 2014. Rolling Meadows has a 1-6 record in the championship game.

"Our defense was very good tonight," said Widlowski. "We did exactly what we wanted to do when we had our walk-through this morning. This was like a conference game or a regional game. Wheaton (2-1) is a very good team."

Ryan Cox's 3-point basket gave the Vikings the lead for good at 6-4 with 1:22 left in the first quarter.

Fremd used an 8-2 run late in the first half to lead 24-14 at the break.

Caiden Such scored and Samuell Hirsch (16 points) connected on two 3-point baskets for the Fremd lead.

Fremd led 29-16 with 6:31 left in the third quarter before the Tigers started to claw back.

A 7-0 run cut the Fremd lead to 29-24 with 4:06 left in the quarter. WW South then closed to 36-34 on a basket by Jake Vozza (14 points) to end the quarter.

When the Tigers closed to 37-36 on a Vozza putback, Fremd called a timeout.

"We had to call time (to get) ourselves in the right state of mind," said senior Chad Kuhl. "We came out of the timeout and picked it up."

Kuhl (8 points) scored on a basket and then a 3-pointer for a 42-36 lead. Hirsch scored on a layup which was followed by Caiden Suchy's basket for a 46-36 lead with 1:26 left in the game.

"We stayed together and finished off the game down the stretch," said Widlowski.

WW South, who had shot 11 of 18 in the first three quarters, hit only 4 of 14 shots in the final frame.

"That wasn't a good thing finishing the game 4-of-14," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "Our kids responded well when we came back in the third quarter. I think we ran out of gas. We'll be excited to see how we come back in the third place game tomorrow."

Hirsch was happy with the Vikings' performance.

"We overcame the adversity when they made their run," said Hirsch. "We're going to be a good team. We shoot well and we play good defense. We performed well when they made the run at us."

Nick Brooks scored 9 points and Colin Moore added 8 for the Tigers.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.