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Energy's missing as Fremd falls to Glenbrook South

Fremd suffered a New Year's Day hangover a few days early at the 40th annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic.

Fremd did recover to pull within 1 late in the game, only to fall to Glenbrook South 37-32 in the consolation bracket. The Vikings (9-5) will play Buffalo Grove at 12:15 on Saturday.

"We did not have the energy that we needed to play four quarters," Fremd coach Bob Widlowski said. "And it wasn't because we played last night (Thursday). They played, too. We just have to be ready to go."

The Vikings shot and played poorly for three quarters and found themselves in a deep hole against Glenbrook South. Fremd failed to show much energy as the the Titans led 20-12 at the half and 29-17 after three quarters.

Widlowski looked to his bench to give his team the spark it sorely needed. And Elliott Kim, Dean Ganas, Luke Seidel and John Smyros began to provide it.

"I think we have a deep team," said Kim, who finished with 6 points. "We needed to help get things going for us."

Kim's 3-point play got the Vikings started as they pulled to within 29-22 with 7:14 to play. South answered with a pair of baskets and appeared to be on its way with a 33-22 lead with 4:36 to play.

But the Vikings finally had a taste for the game.

They went to a full-court trap defense and it paid huge dividends for them. Fremd forced 6 turnovers and blocked a shot at the defensive end.

With the extra energy, the Vikes were able to turn on the offense.

Bryce Hopkins and Ryan Martin, Fremd's leading scorers who'd been pretty much stymied to that point, went to work. Both tallied 4 points and Fremd closed to 33-32 on Martin's basket with 2:43 left.

Twice the Vikings had an opportunity to surge ahead after a defensive stop. But on both possessions following, the Vikings had 3-point shot attempts rattle around and out.

Glenbrook South was then able to close out the game with 4 consecutive free throws.

"We talked about the fact that we need to play 4 quarters," said Martin, who finished with 6 points.

Hopkins said despite the loss, he felt he and his teammates learned a valuable lesson.

"We just came out slow and did not have any energy," said Hopkins, who finished with 7 points, all in the second half. "We have to play hard all the time and just not take any game for granted."

Ganas finished with 6 points for Fremd.

"We did a good job on the comeback," Widlowski said. "We had a couple of balls that went in and out at the end. We just couldn't get the lead."

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