What`s wrong with St. Charles?
The Saints, who began the season with a 17-0 record, have lost three of their last four games, including a 77-55 defeat Friday to Larkin at home. That loss left St. Charles (18-3, 8-2) just a game in front of Larkin (15-6, 7-3), Elgin (14-6, 7-3) and West Aurora (13-8, 7-3) in the Upstate Eight Conference race with four games remaining.
”I don`t think it`s one particular thing,” said St. Charles coach Ron Johnson. ”It`s just one of those periods teams have to work their way through.”
Johnson, in his 23d season, had no such worries in December, when he said, ”It`s been St. Charles` year so far.”
That began to change when the Saints were upset by Batavia 70-66 in a nonconference game Jan. 25.
”Surprisingly enough, our boys took that almost too well,” Johnson said. ”I don`t think that hurt our confidence. Then we went out to De Kalb and lost, and I think they realized then that they were not playing as well as they had earlier. We weren`t playing with the same intensity.”
In the 70-60 loss Jan. 31 to De Kalb, the Saints hit only 32 percent of their shots. They made 26 percent Friday against Larkin. St. Charles had been hitting about 45 percent for the season.
Another factor has been the absence of Andy Hendrickson, who missed four games with the flu, two of them losses. The 6-foot-4-inch center played against Larkin and scored seven points, but was not 100 percent.
How`s Johnson holding up?
”Barely,” said Johnson, who coached St. Charles to its last Upstate Eight title in 1976-77. ”I`ve got to be concerned. Usually this happens to a team in the middle of January, which is a better time to have it happen.”
St. Charles plays four crucial league games in eight days, starting with Friday`s game at East Aurora and including a showdown with Elgin in Elgin Feb. 18.
”Of course, the conference will be decided by those four games,”
Johnson said. ”We`d like to go into the tournament with a good taste in our mouths, so this is very important to us.”
St. Charles is the No. 1 seed in its own Class AA regional, which includes Elgin, Larkin and De Kalb.
Northeast–Lemont coach John Jones speaks of the mystique that has brought Westmont four straight league titles and enabled the Sentinels to clinch at least a tie for their fifth.
He tells of the time last year that his team led Westmont by seven points with less than two minutes to play. Westmont won by six.
”There`s no doubt about it, the Westmont mystique played a large part in the games Lemont has played against them,” Jones said. ”They really believe in themselves.”
Lemont (9-13, 5-3), which Jones said is trying to ”salvage second place,” plays at Westmont (20-3, 8-0) Friday in the regular-season finale. In their first league meeting, Lemont came within seven, losing 39-32. A week later, at the Lemont tournament, Westmont won 78-29.
”They just blew us out,” Jones said. ”They`ve run away with it (the league title) the last five years. We were a very, very strong Northeast Conference last year, but they were a junior team and they won it.”
Westmont has lost only one league game in those five years, falling to Minooka at home last year. The Sentinels, The Tribune`s No. 2-ranked Class A team, close their season with games against Minooka and Lemont, only the sixth and seventh homes games of the season.
Tim Porter scored 21 points, Mike Giampietro 20 and Jeff Metz 18 as Westmont defeated Lisle 88-56 Friday at Lisle. Porter, a 6-3 guard who has signed with Lewis University, is averaging 22 points, 5 steals and 5 assists a game.
Westmont`s last challenge came at the Lemont Christmas tournament when the Sentinels lost to Romeoville 72-63 in the championship game. Romeoville, a Class AA team, is ranked 20th by The Tribune.
Their closest game since then was a 53-46 nonconference victory over Timothy Christian. The closest a league opponent has come the second half of the season is 27 points.
After so many blowouts, will Westmont be ready for its own Class A regional and possible matchups against Hales Franciscan of the Catholic League and Nazareth Academy of the Private School League?
”That`s the toughest regional in the state,” said Jones, whose Injuns will be in the Geneva regional.
”I don`t see any team better than us,” Soldwedel said. ”There are probably some as good, but I don`t see any better.”
In the last four years, Westmont has produced records of 28-2, 27-2, 23-5 and 21-6. The Sentinels have reached the sectional twice, losing to Providence-St. Mel both times, in 1981-82 and 1982-83. Two years ago, they lost to Nazareth in the regional title game. Last year, they lost to Immaculate Conception in the regional championship game.
”I would say if there ever was a year for them to do it, it would be this year,” Jones said. ”They`re getting better. They`re better today than they were a month ago. They`re really priming for the tournament. Their problem has been they never have been able to beat Providence-St. Mel. That`s their mystique.”
Providence-St. Mel, The Tribune`s top-rated Class A team, could be Westmont`s opponent in the first game of the Lemont sectional.
Des Plaines Valley–How good is Downers Grove South, which clinched its first league title since 1979-80 with a 61-52 victory over Addison Trail Friday?
”That`s kind of why I just sit back, because I don`t think I can answer that,” said Downers Grove South coach Dick Flaiz. ”I think we`ve got confidence from meeting the challenges we`ve been up against up to this point. ”Where does that put us when not one of those teams was a top 20 team?
What will happen to that confidence when we play a top 20 team? I can`t project that.”
Flaiz readily admits that the Des Plaines Valley League is experiencing a rare down year. He says he does not believe his Mustangs (17-4, 8-0), who lost 43-40 to Wheaton North in a nonconference game Saturday in Wheaton, are in the same category as The Tribune`s four top-rated teams–Simeon, Leo, King and St. Joseph.
”Does that mean we can`t beat them?” he said. ”Anything can happen on a given night.”
Flaiz downplays any comparisons between this team and the 1979-80 Downers Grove South team that peaked at tournament time and advanced to the Elite Eight. That team, coached by Bill Pelekoudas and led by his son, Dan, an all- state guard, had to battle its way through a series of highly rated teams to reach Champaign.
Downers South is seeded No. 1 in its own regional, where the toughest challenge is expected to come from Downers Grove North. Downers North (5-15)
has lost five games by seven or fewer points in the West Suburban Conference. Last year`s 21-9 Downers South team, runner-up to Leyden in the Des Plaines Valley, won a regional championship. Matt Thompson, Dave Ludwig and Kit Mueller were regulars on that team.
Mueller, a 6-6 junior, leads this year`s team in scoring, averaging about 21 points. He scored 23 points against Addison Trail. Flaiz was encouraged by the performance of senior guard Thompson, who scored 14 points against Addison Trail. Flaiz says Thompson has shed about seven pounds of unnecessary weight gained over Christmas break and appears to be breaking out of a January slump.
