WW South handles Fremd to reach Fenton title game

Wheaton Warrenville South's boys basketball team shot down Fremd 54-33 Friday in the final round of pool play at the Fenton Thanksgiving Tournament in Bensenville.

Wheaton South (3-0) will meet Rolling Meadows, which won the other pool, in Saturday's tournament championship game at 7 p.m.

Wheaton South converted 56% (15-of-27) from the field, including 7-of-9 from 3-point range.

"You are three games in and you don't know if you are going to shoot that well," Wheaton South coach Mike Healy said. "But I liked our toughness. When you play Fremd, you know they are tough as heck."

Wheaton South was especially deadly from the field to begin the game.

Led by Danny Healy, Braylen Meredith, Tyler Fawcett and Matt Sommerdyke, the Tigers converted 7 of their first 9 shots from the field. That also included a perfect 5-for-5 from outside the arc as Wheaton South jumped to a 21-11 lead early in the second quarter.

"It felt good, especially against Fremd," said Danny Healy, who hit a pair of 3s and finished with 13 points.

"It is good to get out against a team like that. Our first two games we didn't shoot the ball well. One of our starters (Rourke Robinson) is out. We just knew we had to step up and make some shots."

Fremd was able to pull to within 22-15. But Wheaton South ran off 7 consecutive points to close out the half with a 29-15 lead and was never threatened from there.

"We told the kids before the game that in high school basketball, you only get to play for a few championships in a year," Mike Healy said. "Our kids will be excited to be in a championship game tomorrow."

Fawcett, who is 6-foot-5, was scoring inside and out for the Tigers and finished with 19 points.

"I hope I can do whatever I could for my team," said Fawcett, who hit a trio of 3-pointers.

"I am working hard on not being one-dimensional. I am looking to shoot from outside the arc and finish around the rim."

Meredith also did damage inside for Wheaton South. The 6-5 junior scored 14 points and had 6 rebounds.

"I thought we played really well tonight," Meredith said. "We passed the ball around and I thought we played really good defense. We are 3-0 and looking to come back tomorrow to play for a championship."

Fremd (2-1) was led by Eli Schoffstall, who had 13 points. Caiden Suchy had 8 points and Ryan Sammons had 6 points.

"I thought this was a highly competitive tournament game for both teams," Fremd coach Bob Widlowski said. "Both teams came out ready to play, but they went 5-for-5 outside the arc. That got them off to a good start and they were able to maintain that the rest of the way."

Fremd will play Montini in the third place game Saturday at 5:30 p.m.