High school boys basketball insider: Jacobs' Jaden Henderson is Athlete of the Week

Athlete of the Week

Jaden Henderson, Jacobs, jr., F

Henderson scored 19 points as the Golden Eagles upset Cary-Grove, 60-57, knocking the Trojans out of a tie for first place in the Fox Valley Conference.

He also scored 10 points in Friday’s overtime victory over Dundee-Crown, 43-41. Henderson leads Jacobs with a 13.5-point scoring average.

Northwest Herald Power Rankings

1. Crystal Lake Central (18-11): The Tigers are back in the top spot after ending Crystal Lake South's 10-game winning streak on Friday. They held off Dundee-Crown in another tough game on Tuesday.

2. Crystal Lake South (22-7): The Gators saw their winning streak halted at 10 against Central, then came back for a decisive win over McHenry on Tuesday.

3. Cary-Grove (19-7): The Trojans need one more win to reach No. 4 on the school's all-time list. The loss to Jacobs on Tuesday stung a little bit, because they had a chance for a share of their first FVC title since 2010.

4. Huntley (16-14): The Red Raiders have won four of five heading into the postseason, with that loss coming against Central. They got a nice win against Hampshire on Tuesday.

5. Hampshire (15-15): The Whip-Purs followed a four-game winning streak with a four-game skid heading into Thursday night's game with Dundee-Crown. They still are a team that can pose problems for postseason opponents.

Noteworthy

Tough matchup: A play-in regional game was not what Crystal Lake Central envisioned at the start of the season, but the Tigers drew the No. 7 seed in their sub-sectional and face No. 11 McHenry on Monday in the Class 4A Crystal Lake Central Regional.

Central could see No. 2 Crystal Lake South at 6 p.m. Wednesday in a semifinal game, which means one of the FVC’s top two teams will not make it to a regional final.

Impressive Gators: South won 10 consecutive games between its losses to Central to put itself in position for its first FVC title since 1994. The Gators also reached 22 wins when they beat McHenry on Tuesday, their most since former coach Gary Collins' team was 22-7 in 2004.

“We’ve been defending so well and our ballhandling’s been great,” Gators coach Matt LePage said. “We’re averaging only nine turnovers a game.”

Still, LePage sensed the streak might end at any time since South had several close outcomes recently. Against Central, the Gators shot 14 of 52 from the field (26.9 percent) and 5 of 30 on 3-pointers.

“We’ve been on the verge of losing for a couple weeks, the Dundee-Crown game, the Palatine game, you can’t bury yourself in holes, six, eight, 10 points,” LePage said.

Top seeds: In the Class 3A Marengo Sectional, Johnsburg and Woodstock North took the top two seeds in sub-sectional B, so Johnsburg is the top seed in its regional and North is the highest seed at Genoa-Kingston.

North (15-13) has its most wins in school history and could play for a regional title for only the second time in its 10 years of existence. The Thunder lost to Woodstock, 64-29, for a Class 3A regional championship in 2013.

North won a semifinal game that year and a play-in game one other time, for its only two postseason wins.

The Thunder had a tough week with losses to Burlington Central, Johnsburg and Woodstock, but still could make school history.

What to Watch

Class 4A South Elgin Regional: Cary-Grove received was the top seed in sub-sectional A, but faces some tough opponents in trying to win its first regional since 2001.

Class 4A Crystal Lake Central Regional: No. 2 Crystal Lake South is the highest seed, but No. 7 Central looms as a potential semifinal matchup. The Tigers have given South two of its seven losses.