Wheeling caps 3-1 showing at Northridge Prep

It's been a good start to the season for Wheeling's boys basketball team.

The Wildcats beat Vernon Hills 68-49 Saturday to cap a 3-1 showing in Northridge Prep's Battle at the Ridge Thanksgiving tournament.

Northridge Prep, Sullivan and Wheeling all went 3-1. Northridge Prep beat Sullivan 58-32 in Saturday's other tourney game. Vernon Hills went 1-3, while Holy Trinity dropped all four of its games. Northridge won the championship via the tiebreaker, which was free-throw percentage.

Jeremy Kim led the way for Wheeling against Vernon Hills, scoring 23 points, including four timely 3-pointers. Michael Best added 15 points, and Christian McLaughlin chipped in nine.

Jack Barszcz paced Vernon Hills with 20 points, and Ryan Jacobson added 15. The Cougars played without starting guard Joey Levitan for the third straight game.

Kim took over the game at the offensive end with his long-range shooting and ability to finish at the rim.

"He's always been a real good shooter and has always been able to handle the rock," Wheeling coach Michael O'Keeffe said of returning starter. "He put a lot on his plate last year as a junior, and expectations are even higher for him this year. He's one of our best shooters and works his tail off on a day-to-day basis in practice. His hard work has paid off."

Kim had a 14-point performance against Sullivan earlier in the week.

"Our team played well together," Kim said. "They found me and I got the open shots. I was just able to shoot through the offense. Whatever came to me, I just took it. It ended up all working out."

Down 14-11 after one quarter, Vernon Hills tied it at 14-14 on a three-point play from Sam Polisky early in the second. But then Kim scored six of the next eight points, and Wheeling extended its lead to 30-21 by the break.

Vernon Hills pulled within 39-34 on Jacobson's layup with 2:20 left in the third. But Wheeling answered again, closing the third with an 8-4 run capped by Kim's 3-pointer with 44 seconds remaining for a 47-38 lead.

"We mixed in a man-to-man and a 1-3-1 (on defense)," O'Keeffe said. "We wanted to change our looks and create the tempo of the game. I think we kept Vernon Hills on their heels a little bit. When they made the runs, we came right back at them."

Vernon Hills trimmed the lead to seven early in the fourth, but Wheeling pushed the lead back out to double digits the rest of the way.

"There were some moments at the end of the first half where you could see our youth," Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty said. "We have a ton of juniors that love basketball. They are still learning and growing. Those runs that Wheeling had, you can see their experience. We weren't able to handle their runs."

Levitan injured his ankle in the opening game of the tournament at the end of the first quarter by landing on someone's foot. McCarty said he is questionable for the Cougars' game against Mundelein on Tuesday night.

"I really liked the way we played at times this week and picked up things," McCarty said. "We're a young team with not very many minutes at all coming back from last year. There was a lot of promise this week. Some better days are ahead for us."