Boys basketball notes: McHenry’s Marko Visnjevac scores his 1,000th point; CL South’s AJ Demirov will be next

McHenry guard Marko Visnjevac established himself as one of the top outside threats in the Fox Valley Conference last season when he averaged 16.7 points a game and made 79 3-pointers, third-highest among area players.

The senior hit a 3 in the second quarter Friday at Marengo to pass 1,000 points for his career as the Warriors cruised to an 83-28 nonconference victory.

The game was briefly stopped to honor Visnjevac, a third-year varsity player, and he was given the game ball at the end of the contest. In Marengo’s E.C. Nichols Holiday Classic championship game Dec. 29, Visnjevac hit a game-winning 5-foot floater as the Warriors edged Rockford Christian 66-64.

“It means a lot to me, and I can’t thank my teammates more for being by my side for this journey the last few years,” Visnjevac said.

Visnjevac is averaging 14 points per game, hitting 82.6% on free throws and has 35 3s for the season. He has not decided where he will play in college yet but plans on making a decision soon.

McHenry (12-4) is one win away from matching last season’s 13-19 win total. The Warriors have a area-best six-game winning streak.

Visnjevac is the third area player to pass 1,000 points this season, joining Marian Central’s Cale McThenia and Woodstock’s Spencer Cullum. Visnjevac scored 230 points as a sophomore, 533 as a junior and has 238 this season.

“He’s a great young man, an intense competitor who, in my short time, has put in the work before school and after practice with lifting,” Warriors coach Corky Card said. “He is an A student and has a great demeanor. Probably one of the best things you can say about a basketball player is his teammates love him.”

Next in line: Crystal Lake South junior AJ Demirov is at 983 career points and could pass 1,000 on Wednesday at Hampshire in an FVC game. Demirov is averaging 20.5 points a game and is on pace to challenge Phil Wallace’s school record of 1,864 next year.

Wallace was a four-year varsity starter and graduated in 2004, when he was Northwest Herald Player of the Year.

New scoring king: Marian Central forward Christian Bentancur recently passed Adam Pischke as the school’s career scoring leader.

Bentancur has 1,828 points and passed Pischke’s 1,775 during Jacobs’ Hinkle Holiday Classic. Pischke was the Northwest Herald Player of the Year in 2016, the year he graduated. He played at NCAA Division II Lewis University. He scored 1,042 points at Lewis and started 96 games in his career.

Bentancur, the 2023 Northwest Herald Football Player of the Year who will play at Clemson, competed in the All-American Bowl, an all-star game with top players from around the nation, on Saturday in San Antonio.

Bentancur, who will play tight end at Clemson, caught two passes and played for the West, which beat the East 31-28.

This week, Bentancur (6-foot-5, 235 pounds) will play in the Polynesian Bowl in Hawaii. That game will be shown on NFL Network at 8 p.m. Friday.

Looking up: Richmond-Burton lost Saturday to Crystal Lake Central 55-41, but Rockets coach Rich Petska took the loss in stride. R-B (9-5) already has more wins than last season (8-22).

The Rockets have 6-4 sophomore Luke Robinson in the starting lineup and 6-5 freshman Jace Nelson coming off the bench. Senior guard Maddox Meyer is their best outside threat, and 6-2 forward Ryan Wisniewski is another contributor inside.

Petska took over this season when former coach Brandon Creason took a job as principal at Nippersink Middle School. Petska was an assistant coach with Creason for three seasons.

“These boys have done everything I’ve asked and more,” Petska said. “Being the assistant coach for three years, I knew who everybody was and knew what they were capable of. They’ve played really, really well this season.

“I guess maybe we were due for a bad game. Everything’s gone our way.”

Honoring the champs: Alden-Hebron will dedicate its newly painted floor to the 1952 boys basketball state champions Friday between the junior varsity boys and varsity girls games against Our Lady of Sacred Heart Academy.

The floor was redone last summer and has the signatures of the five starters from the Giants’ 1952 state champs, along with coach Russ Ahearn, in the center jump circle.

A-H athletic director John Lalor said three players – starters Phil Judson and Ken Spooner, along with reserve Jim Wilbrandt – will be in attendance. Lalor said the ceremony would take place some time between 6:30 and 7 p.m.