The Head of the Holiday Class

What is it that the person in charge of report cards usually says to all but the straight A students?

"With a little more work you could turn that B into an A." Or "You are so close to getting a higher grade if you would only (fill in the blank)."
You get the idea.

That's how I felt when assessing the holiday tournament performances of the six Patch Hardwood Tour teams that competed last week.

As a group they compiled a combined record of 10-14, but five of those losses were by three measly points or less, meaning that just a slight reversal of fortune would have made a major difference when these grades were meted out.

Still, above-average marks were achieved by three quarters of the teams and just about every team here shares one common commentary: Improvement is still a very real possibility and in many cases just a basket or two away.

Libertyville Wildcats: (2-2 at Wheeling Tournament, 7-6 overall)
Grade B+
If Ryan Barth returns to the Libertyville lineup anywhere near the player he was earlier this year, the Wildcats of Libertyville are going to be a team to watch. Coach Scott Bogumil's charges, playing without their injured leading scorer, gave an excellent account of themselves, finishing fourth in the 16-team field at the Wheeling Hardwod Classic.

Led in the tourney by a trio of juniors, Ellis Matthews, Griffin Pils and Luke Matthewson, along with senior Landon Eyre, Libertyville crushed Deerfield (60-29) then dispatched Loyola 63-52 in the first two days and found themselves in the heady position of being one win away from the championship contest.

Unfortunately, the Cats came head to head in the semifinal game with tourney MVP Quinton Chievous and the eventual champs from Notre Dame. Libertyville's Mathews may be sleight in build and lacking in the reputation department to Chievous, but the gutsy Wildcat guard matched 28-point performances with the Dons star in the 85-65 loss.

In the third-place game, the Wildcats trailed by 10 entering the final eight minutes, then went on a 24-point scoring rampage to close the gap to two points before finally bowing 69-64 to Lake Park.

The Wheeling tournament was a coming out party for Mathews, who averaged over 19 points and made the prestigious all-tournament team..
Libertyville fans can't help but wonder how their team would have fared with Barth in the lineup. But there can be no doubt that the development of Matthews and point guard Pils has grown considerably in Barth's absence.

Stevenson Patriots: (3-1 at Wheeling Tournament, 5-7 overall)
Grade B+
Coach Pat Ambrose's team limped into this tourney with just one win in its previous seven games but emerged with the consolation championship and a three-game winning streak. After losing an opening-game heartbreaker 37-36 to Loyola, the Patriots played another stiff defensive contest and came out on the winning end of a 41-40 overtime thriller against Deerfield. That triumph has to be considered a turning-point game for the team, which went on to win its next two in dominant style.

The consolation title game was all Stevenson, with the Patriots powering past Maine West by 17, indicative of the club's growing confidence as it heads into the new year of 2011.

During this tourney, junior guard Michael Fleming (an all-tournament selection) started getting some much-needed scoring help from fellow juniors Troy Radtke and Colby Cashaw as well as veteran Kevin Earl. But the calling card for Stevenson has always been its down-and-dirty defense, and at Wheeling, no one managed more than 43 points against the stingy Patriots.

Grayslake Central Rams: (2-2 at State Farm Classic in Bloomington, 4-7 overall)
Grade B-
The Rams of Grayslake Central never really threatened in their first two games at the Bloomington tournament against a pair of very tough teams. But instead of folding their tent, Coach Brian Moe's team came home with their first winning streak of the season.

Granted, two is as small a number as you can use with the words "in a row" after it, but the Rams are also coming off their best eight minutes of the year, a 23-point fourth-quarter splurge that broke open a close game against Normal University on the way to a 52-40 win in their last game.

Grayslake Central was saddled with the task of playing unbeaten Glenbard East in the opening game and went down by 15. Then came eternal 3A playoff nemesis, North Chicago in a measuring stick contest that saw the Rams cut down to size 64-51.

Trailing 18-3 after one quarter, juniors Jordan Taylor (22 points) and Casey Boyle (14) rallied the troops to keep the final score from being embarrassing.
The turnaround continued in the next two games. Big man C.J. Stempeck showed up in the scoring column with a 17-point game as Central bested Sterling. And against Normal, the 6-foot-8 junior Boyle came up with a 21-point performance in a 52-40 win.

The obvious statement to make here is that the Rams are at their best when their big men have good games to go along with the steady play of Taylor.
All hands need to be on deck Wednesday when the team travels to Crystal Lake Central to take on the powerful Tigers in the Fox Valley, Fox Division opener. The Rams are defending champs, going undefeated in conference last year.

Lake Forest Scouts: (2-2 at State Farm Classic in Bloomington, 6-7 overall)
Grade B-
Lake Forest was in desperate need of a few wins as it made the long trek to Bloomington to play in the State Farm Classic. The Scouts had dropped their last three games, all North Suburban Conference, Lake Division affairs, including the last two to struggling teams from Stevenson and Lake Zurich.

The downstate excursion seems to have turned this team around somewhat, as Lake Forest returned with a pair of victories and a near-miss in its final contest, a 46-44 overtime loss to the Bulldogs of Mahomet-Seymour.

Junior guard Thomas Durrett was a double-digit scorer in all four contests for the Scouts, including a 22-point performance in the opening win against Normal Community. John Hayes, the other junior guard, had 10- and 11-point outings in support of Durrett in Lake Forest's last two contests.

Nailing down a win in that final downstate loss to the Bulldogs would have given the Scouts some welcome momentum. At least Lake Forest stopped the bleeding from its trio of consecutive NSC Lake losses.

But they are right back into the conference fray this week with a pair of brutal contests -- at home against Zion-Benton on Wednesday and on the road Saturday against the league's toughest team, the Warren Blue Devils.

Lake Zurich Bears: (1-3 at Pekin Holiday Tournament, 3-10 overall)
Grade C
If you're going to come away from a 183-mile trip with just one win, why not make it against a team with one of the most colorful nicknames in the state? That's just what the Lake Zurich Bears did at the Pekin Holiday Tournament, pouring more salt in the wounds of a poor Freeport Pretzels team, that, like the Bears, managed just a single tourney triumph.

Lake Zurich has had another tough season thus far, struggling to score points and secure victories. But against the Pretzels, they dominated, at least defensively, holding their opponent to just 21 percent shooting and under 10 points scoring in all four quarters while securing a 39-27 win.

Junior Mirko Grcic continued to play well for the Bears at Pekin, leading the team in scoring in three of the four games with an average of 13 per game. Guard Mike Boyd was the high scorer with 15 in the team's final game, a 10-point loss to the Normal West Wildcats. Boyd seemed to step up his game at this tournament, but the Bears still need at least one more scorer to come to the fore in order to start putting some wins on their resume.

Lake Zurich managed to reach 50 points in just one game in the tournament, but at least it did so in its last contest. Let's hope that the increased scoring output is a trend, because the Bears face tough conference opposition this weekend with games against powerful Warren at home on Friday and improving Stevenson on the road on Saturday.

Palatine Pirates: (0-4 at Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York High School, 4-10 overall)
Grade D+
The Palatine Pirates hold the dubious distinction of being the lone team on the 17-school Patch Hardwood Tour to come away from a holiday tournament without a victory. They avoided a failing grade, at least in my book, with the way they battled in two three-point losses. The 58-55 near-miss against the Oswego Panthers was impressive, considering that the Panthers had entered the York High event as the only unbeaten team in the field.

Facing Oswego was the second tough bracket break in two days for Palatine, which had the unenviable task of  playing the tournament host, the York Dukes, in round one.
I witnessed the 20-point loss to York, whose superstar guard Will Sullivan returned to the lineup from injury with a 22-point outburst that gave no indications of lingering concerns. Palatine was never in this contest, trailing 21-6 after a quarter, struggling to score and playing matador defense at the same time on the way to a 66-46 loss.

The previous time I saw Palatine play, they had just one player in double figures as they bested Lake Zurich in an early-season game where neither team impressed. Egan Malley notched 23 in that Pirates win, but did not get into the game against York until the Pirates trailed 16-4.

Looking for positives, I continue to be impressed with the smooth moves of 6-4 junior John Millen, and guard Peter Bony seems to have stepped up his game. Millen had 17 against York and 15 in the team's excellent effort against Oswego.

After the near-upset of the Panthers, Palatine scrambled back from a bad first quarter and fell just short again, losing 59-56 to Glenbard South, with Malley netting 13.  A 25-point loss to St. Francis ended the tourney on a sour note, extending the team's losing streak to six games.

Top Patch Teams Witnessed Thus Far On Hardwood Tour
1. Huntley Red Raiders (10-2)
2. Crystal Lake Central Tigers (10-3)
3. Crystal Lake South Gators (8-4)
4. Barrington Broncos (9-6)
5. Libertyville Wildcats (7-6)
6. Fremd Vikings (8-6)
7. Buffalo Grove Bison (8-5)
8. Grayslake North Knights (8-3)
9. Jacobs Golden Eagles (6-5)