Sitting at 8-8 in early January, Fenwick boys basketball coach Dave Fergerson believed his team had survived a bumpy season start. The Friars were playing several newcomers to replace a large group of graduated seniors, and the fact that most of the returnees were late in joining due to them being members of the football team that won the IHSA Class 6A state championship meant the jelling process took longer than expected.
But little did anyone envision that a 61-54 victory over Romeoville, Jan. 10, would be Fenwick’s final win of the season. The Friars wound up losing their last 10 games, including a 53-47 loss to Wheaton St. Francis in an IHSA Class 3A Joliet Catholic Regional semifinal, Feb. 25.
“We prepared the best we could,” Fergerson said. “We were still a little young-minded and just fell short.”
Trailing 33-20 early in the third quarter, Fenwick (8-18) went on a 14-2 run that lasted six minutes to climb back into the game. Jake Thies, who got honorable mention on the Chicago Catholic League Blue All-Conference team, had six of his team-high 17 points during this stretch, and Luke Vongluekiat (10 points) and Dae’lon Wofford each had a three-point basket.
The Friars kept St. Francis within range in the fourth quarter and took a 45-44 lead with 2:37 to play on a three-pointer from Jimmy Watts (8 points). But the Spartans regained the lead for good with 2:16 left on a pair of free throws by Benjamin Whorlow.
Following two more St. Francis free throws, Thies brought Fenwick back to within one with two free throws of his own with 41.5 left. But the Spartans then beat the Friars’ full-court press for a layup by Tanner Hozian with :38 to play.
With about 10 seconds remaining, Thies got a good look at a potential game-tying three from the left arc. But the shot was no good, and Thies was called for an intentional foul on St. Francis’ Carter Clark with 6.8 to go. Clark hit both free throws to effectively seal the game for the Spartans.
Fenwick says goodbye to its six graduating seniors: Michael McMahon, Garrett McNally, Bobby Milder, Conrad Sperry, Raphiel Stewart, and Tommy Thies. But Jake Thies, Vongluekiat, Watts, and Wofford will be among 13 players who can return next season.
“The season was up and down, it was tough,” Fergerson said. “We couldn’t really get into a good flow. We learned a lot and have to regroup. We’ve got a lot of good young talent and we’ll get back to the drawing board for next year.”
OPRF
The Huskies (6-22) ended their season with a 61-46 loss to Batavia in a Class 4A Willowbrook Regional semifinal, Feb. 25.
“[Batavia] pretty much summed up our season,” said OPRF coach Phil Gary. “We were in most of our games that we lost, it’s just that we’re young and inexperienced and struggled a lot to score. Defensively, we were really good. This season was up and down, when you’re young and inexperienced, the margins of error are so slim, whether it’s free throws, layups, turnovers, defensive lapses. You almost have to play perfect basketball to win games.”
Against Batavia, sophomore Owen Towne led OPRF with 14 points. Senior Cameron Woods had 12 points, and junior George Gray added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Injuries also played a role in the Huskies’ season as senior Acoya King was out all year with an ACL injury and junior Tyson McLean missed the majority with a knee injury. However, McLean, along with Gray and Towne, will be among eight players scheduled to return next season, and Gary feels experience gained will help going forward.
“This was the first significant amount of minutes for a lot of guys. It always helps for the future,” he said.
King and Woods are among seven departing seniors; Jerome Delaney, Matt Hajduk, Matt Halper, Logan Johnson, and Darren Law are the others. Gary thanked them for their exemplary leadership.
“Matt Halper was our captain this year and there’s nothing bad I can say about him,” he said. “He brought it all year every day in practice and in games. The whole senior group, they didn’t miss one day of workouts in the preseason. To me, that’s what a program’s all about. We didn’t win as many games as we would’ve liked, but the seniors set the foundation going forward.”