Fremd shares the wealth in win over Conant

Assists may at times be overlooked on the stat sheets.

Points and rebounds are the glory numbers.

Fremd's boys basketball doesn't miss a trick.

The Vikings dished out 14 assists out of their 20 baskets in taming the host Conant Cougars 47-28 Friday night.

Fremd's win brings its winning streak to six-straight and the Vikings are now 8-2 overall and, more importantly, own a 4-0 record in the Mid-Suburban League West Division.

Conant dropped a game below .500 at 5-6 overall and is now 2-2 in conference play.

"Fremd doesn't care how many points they score in a game," said Conant coach Jim Maley. "They know that you will not score enough points to beat them."

"We're a very unselfish team, and I'd like to think I am a unselfish player," said Fremd senior guard John Smyros. "Since we've been playing together for such a long time we know each other's strengths.

"Assists are for me," he continued. "I try to look for the open player. Right know it's a good feeling to be where we are in the conference race. After the Christmas break we know we have to keep it up."

Smyros scored 8 points and dished out 6 assists.

Bryce Hopkins led the Vikings with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists.

"Bryce had a great game tonight," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski who notched is 299th win, and will go for No. 300 next Wednesday when his team opens play at the Wheeling Hardwood Classic against Libertyville.

"He is extremely versatile. He played all five positions on offense on the floor tonight. He's been solid all year. His experience brings a lot to this team."

"Hopkins could be a 20-point average player," said Maley. "But he works within their system. It's a credit to him and to their coaching staff."

Hopkins looks at the team success as part of what they do in practice.

"We're a selfless team and we get most of our baskets off of assists," he said. "We're friends, we have good chemistry and it makes it easier to adjust in a game. Tonight we had to make sure that we had an inside/outside game going. Conant has some lengthy players so that's what we had to do."

While Fremd led 12-9 after one quarter, Hopkins asserted himself in the second quarter with two putback baskets and assisted to Jake Schoffstall (9 pts.) on another as the Vikings built a 21-9 lead with 2:09 left in the first half.

Conant, which was 1-for-9 from the field in the second quarter and 5-for-18 in the first half, went 9:25 without a basket before Jonathan Kolev hit a 3 pointer.

Hopkins connected for 9 of his 13 points and guard Dean Gaddis stole the ball twice to score on easy layups as the Vikings led 36-22 after three quarters.