Boys basketball: Woodstock senior Spencer Cullum passes 1,000 for his career

When Spencer Cullum was younger, watching Woodstock boys basketball games with his older brother Zach and his teammates playing, he dreamt big.

Cullum wanted not only to play for the Blue Streaks, but to be one of the best. He aspired to score 1,000 points during his high school career and eventually play in college.

The college will come next year, as many schools are interested in the 6-foot-6 forward who can hit 3-pointers as well as drive in for dunks. The 1,000th point came on Monday, Dec. 11 when the Streaks beat North Boone 69-44 in Woodstock’s James M. Shipley Memorial Gymnasium.

Cullum hit 1,000 on a free throw and the game was stopped momentarily to recognize his accomplishment.

“It means a lot,” Cullum said. “It felt really good. That was always my goal, to score 1,000. It means a lot to me because it shows the hard work I’ve put in is paying off. My family always pushed me to accomplish my goals. Now that I’ve achieved this, they’ll push me to accomplish my next goals. It’s going to keep going and going.”

More importantly, Cullum’s contributions are helping the Blue Streaks (8-2) have success. They have won six consecutive games, lead the Kishwaukee River Conference and could be on their way to a winning season for the first time since 2016 (18-8).

“It’s great. We’re a senior-heavy team and we’re coming together really well,” Culllum said. “We’re playing well together. The chemistry is constantly going up. For good teams that’s what you need.

“We have leaders and guys who play their roles really well and don’t complain about it. With everyone accepting their role and all of us playing together, that’s what gets us to our goals.”

Streaks coach Ryan Starnes appreciates how Cullum has become a face of the program.

“It just shows how hard he has worked to accomplish that,” Starnes said. “Nobody sees all the behind-the-scenes work he does to get to that milestone. He is a non-stop worker in the gym, weight room, and even in the film room.

“All of the kids in our feeder program and middle schools look up to him, and he has set a standard that I am really proud of.”

Cullum remembers being one of those kids himself and enjoys seeing the young Woodstock fans at games.

“It’s awesome. I used to look up to my brother and all of his teammates,” he said. “Now I’m the guy the little kids look up to. It gives me a lot of responsibility. It makes me have to play smarter, it makes me have to have fun out there. It’s extra fun when they’re there. I always go up to them and all that.”

Cullum will not catch Woodstock career leader Dan Hill (1984-87, 1,791 points) or Jordan Turner (2009-13, 1,447), but likely will end up third on the Streaks’ career list. Cole Johanesn (1961-64, (1,145) and Maury Leitzke (1989-91, 1,121) are third and fourth.

Cullum is still hearing from numerous schools about next season. NCAA Division III Carthage and Wisconsin-Whitewater currently are two that he is in contact with a lot. He plans on waiting until the end of the season to make a decision.

Another club member: Marian Central senior Cale McThenia was the first area boys player to pass 1,000 points this season, doing so in the first week of the season. McThenia is a four-year varsity player for the Hurricanes and had a huge season last year with 561 points, averaging 19.1 points a game.

“It was a cool moment, I’ve been playing basketball for all my life and to have the success I have had in football and to still be a scorer and threat in basketball on the side is a great feeling,” McThenia said.

McThenia will sign his football National Letter of Intent to play quarterback at Northern Iowa on Wednesday morning at the high school. Also signing will be Christian Bentancur, to whom McThenia completed 92 passes this season. Bentancur will sign as a tight end at Clemson.

Bentancur passed 1,000 career points early last season, giving the Hurricanes a rarity with two members of the 1,000-point club as teammates.

“To have two guys scoring a 1,000 on one team just shows how well we work together and how we share scoring between each other equally and efficiently,” McThenia said.

Cary-Grove heats up: Crystal Lake South has been the area’s hottest with with an eight-game winning streak, but Cary-Grove is right up there, having won five of its last six games.

The Trojans gave South a tough game Friday in their Fox Valley Conference game, losing 73-67 in overtime.

C-G coach Adam McCloud is getting good production from sophomore Adam Bauer, and the return of two captains, Jake Hornok and PJ Weaver, who were key players on the Class 6A football state championship team, has been crucial.

“We were close without them and we lost tough ones to Huntley and Dundee-Crown right after they came back,” McCloud said. “They set the tone on the offensive and defensive sides. We are still figuring out roles, but the mentality is different with Hornok and Weaver back.”

C-G won five consecutive games before its loss to South on Friday.

Porto hits 300: Burlington Central coach Brett Porto already was the winningest coach in his alma mater’s history and picked up win No. 300 on Dec. 6 against Dundee-Crown. The Rockets since have added two more to his total.

“I’ve had some really great teams and some really great players and I’ve been able to do it for a long enough time to get there,” Porto said. “Just being from Central, being a kid who played there, went to summer camp there, getting the opportunity to coach all these guys now, there’s a feeling of appreciation that’s really tough to explain. Moments like that you definitely don’t take for granted.”

Welcome home: Thursday’s game with Stevenson at Huntley will be a fun one for the participants as former Huntley coach Will Benson returns for the first time.

Benson coached the Red Raiders for nine seasons and had two teams tie the school record for wins at 27 twice. New coach Collin Kalamatas was on Benson’s staff before coaching Burlington Central’s girls the last four seasons.

Benson and his family still live in Huntley. He plans on staying in Huntley until his sophomore daughter Grace graduates from high school.

Facing the champs: McHenry (7-3) takes a three-game winning streak to historic Wharton Fieldhouse on Thursday to face Moline, the defending Class 4A state champion.

The Maroons returned one starter from their group that beat Benet Academy last year for the state title.