Hinkle Holiday Classic at Jacobs (Algonquin) First Round Wrap-Up!!!!!!

Best first round of holiday tournaments I've been to in awhile. They did a great job seeding this event. Tight games, an overtime game, buzzer beater, and of course defending champ Benet Academy (Lisle) putting belt to their first round opponent. Here we go:

Geneva escapes:

Geneva 57 Prairie Ridge (Crystal Lake) 55:

Geneva entered my rankings at #22 last week. My first look at them and boy was this a barn burner. Prairie Ridge (Crystal Lake) is a football school. Multiple state titles in that sport. They came in 2-7 and yes they had some football players come in a little late. They played teasm ball vs the zone, Big to Big passing for layups and good shots. Game was tied in the last 20 seconds. Geneva had the ball and a great pass by senior Gabe Jensen to a cutting junior Ben Peterson (#32) for a layup with one second left, Prairie Ridge couldn't get a shot off, so Geneva wins 57-55 to stay unbeaten (9-0). Freshman Cody Rader (#10) got the start and scored 5 points and 3 rebounds. Senior Nate Palmer (#3) led with 15 points Jensen had 12 points and 2 steals. Junior David Udolwod (#20) came off the bench and scored 14 points 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Prairie Ridge (2-8) was led by senior Elijah Loeding with 18 points 4 assists 1 steal. Senor Maddon McKim had 14 points 8 rebounds. Senior football quarterback Luke Vanderwiel had 7 assists and 2 steals. Geneva moves onto second round to play Lakes (Lake Villa).

Cary Grove 57 Mundelein 39:

Cary Grove (9-1) survives foul trouble by senior star Adam Bauer (#22) to advance with win over Mundelein. Bauer had 10 points before fouling out with 4:44 left. Even with that Cary Grove controlled the game from the outset. Senior AJ Berndt (#2) came alive in the second half scoring 9 of his 13 points and setting up teammates on cuts to the basket. Added 3 steals. Fellow senior Brady Bauer (Adam's brother) (#24) picked up the slack with 9 points 4 rebounds and 1 steal. Senior Dylan Dumele had 9 points. Junior Spencer Thomas led Mundelein (3-9) with 8 points 2 steals. Cary Grove moves into second round to play North (Naperville).

I might have to look at North (Naperville) for my Super 25 rankings.

North (Naperville) 65 Johnsburg 54:

North (Naperville) (10-2) was efficient shooting from deep and scoring vs Johnsburg's zone. Only losses to this point are to ranked St Patrick (Chicago) and Stevenson (Lincolnshire). They shot 10/24 from three as a team. Found openings to get shots off mostly off the catch. Hottest one was junior Jack Zitko (#12) who was 5 for 9 from long range scoring 19 points and 4 steals. Senior Carson Loughlin (#1) led with 21 points (7/9 FG, 2/5 three) and 1 steal. Senior Miles Okyne was passing to shooters out of the middle of the zone with 8 assists to go with 5 points. Senior Max Steele had 10 points 7 rebounds 6 assists and 1 steal. Johnsburg (5-5) was led by junior Trey Toussaint with 15 points (5/11 three) followed by senior Ashton Stern with 13 points 4 rebounds and 1 block. North (Naperville) moves into second round to play Cary Grove.

Junior Ben Newcomb's double/double leads the way for Lakes (Lake Villa) (6-4) to win over Boylan Catholic (Rockford):

Lakes (Lake Villa) 79 Boylan Catholc (Rockford) 61:

Newcomb (#22) did it all in this game scoring from three, drives to the paint, post ups, and in transition. He had 27 points 10 rebounds (double/double) 4 assists 1 steal and 1 block. Lakes controlled this game in the middle quarters after being outscored 17-10 in first quarter. Outscored Boylan by seven in the second and third quarters to take control. Junior point guard Dorian Pullen (#3) broke the school single game record for assists with 13 to go with 5 points and 2 steals. Created for shooters and pushing it in transition. Junior Carter Martin (#5) had 20 points (7/11 FG, 4/6 three) and senior Aidan Hopkins (#12) added 15 points 12 rebounds (double/double) 2 steals. Boylan Catholic senior Christian Kennedy (#32) was flirting with a triple double for most of the game. He ended ip with 18 points 10 rebounds (double/double) 6 assists and 1 steal. Junior Alex Ambrose had 16 points 3 assists and 1 steal for Boylan (6-5). Lakes (Lake Villa) moves into second round to play undefeated Geneva.

Five starters in double digits was not enough for Grant Community as they drop a tough one in overtime to Barrington:

Barrington 82 Grant Community 79 Overtime:

Exciting high scoring game went into overtime when senior Jayden Smith for Grant Community got a rebound put back to tie it. Barrington (5-4) got a few steals and breakways in overtime, a couple by senior star Oliver Gray (#10) to seal it. Gray had 27 points 4 rebounds and 1 steal. Junior Jackson Roberts (#2) made some big steals and assists in overtime to secure the win. Roberts had 24 points 5 rebounds 6 assists 2 steals. Barrington led most of the game but Grant came back in the third quarter to make it a nip and tuck game in the fourth and overtime. Senior Evan Shechtman (#20) had 14 points and 2 steals. Grant Community (5-3) tied for scoring lead with J Smith 13 points 13 rebounds (double/dobule) 1 steal and 2 blocks. Seniors Noah McMath had 17 points 1 steal, Damarion Smith 17 points 5 rebounds 1 steal 1 block, juniors DJ Stitts 16 points 3 steals, and Charles Schlicht 16 points 6 rebounds 2 steals and 1 block. Barrington moves into second round to play Larkin (Elgin).

5'6" senior point guard Jayden Bailey of Larkin (Elgin) dominates the game and tempo to help team to win. In the program he was #11 but wore #24 in the game.

Larkin (Elgin) 73 Jacobs (Algonquin) 60:

Lots of back and forth, pressing by both teams, a lot of shots taken god and bad. Larkin (5-6) controlled the game for the most part. Host Jacobs cut it to 6 a couple of times, but Larkin would score a couple of fast break baskets to keep them at bay. Bailey had 16 points 3 assists 2 steals. Senior Jahvion Sowers added 21 points 6 rebounds 5 steals and 1 block. Great all around game by him. Senior Mac Irvin III (#21) was close to a double/double with 9 points 11 rebounds. Senior Lawrence Sallis had 11 points and 2 steals. Jacobs (Algonquin) (7-3) was led by junior Elijah Bell (#13) with 24 points 8 rebounds and 4 steals. Senior Carson Goehring had 10 points 2 steals. Senior Samson Averehi had 9 points 5 rebounds 2 blocks. Freshman Malachi Bell (#3) was limited to 4 points but had 6 rebounds. Larkin (Elgin) moveds into second round to play Barrington.

Young South (Crystal Lake) team takes win over Central (Grayslake):

South (Crystal Lake) 65 Central (Grayslake) 49:

Tight game turned in the fourth quarter on a nasty two hand slam by junior Nick Stowasser (#22) of South (Crystal Lake). Game was in single digits, then a steal, a pass to Stowasser who put a Central (Grayslake) player on a poster with a nasty two hand dunk (WATCH...YOUR HEAD). Then a couple more steals and another two hand dunk by Stowasser and put it in the refridgerator. Young man had 25 points (8/15 FG, 4/8 three) 6 rebounds 3 steals 1 block. Junior Illinois baseball commit Carson Trivilleni (#5) showed his nasty mid range pull-up game with multiple two dribble shots of that variety. He had 17 points and 7 assists (a few to Stowasser). Junior Noah Cook had 8 points 8 rebounds 1 steal and 1 block. Central (Grayslake) (7-4) was led by senior Alex Granville 17 points 5 rebounds and 5 steals. Senior Cole Halverson had 9 points. Game was ruled by South (Crystal Lake) on the offensive glass. They move into second round where they will play #8 Benet Academy (Lisle).

Benet Academy (Lisle) cruises to win over Bartlett:

Benet Academy (Lisle) 74 Bartlett 23:

Benet is the big time favorite by a mile in this tournament. Wasn't messing around getting ut to a 14-0 lead, then subbed their second and third teamers in the rest of the game. Not much else to tell here. Senior North Dakota State commit Colin Stack led Benet with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Junior Edvardas Stasys had 8 points. Bartlett (4-7) was led by senior Brandon Johnson with 8 points and junior Joey Cwik with 6. Benet Academy (Lisle) (10-1) advances to play South (Crystal Lake).