Boys basketball notes: Crystal Lake Central looks to bring ‘life’ back to field house

Few high school basketball gyms equal Crystal Lake Central’s when it comes to charm and age.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, who haven’t won double-digit games in a season since going 11-21 in 2019-20, losing often keeps fans away – or at least makes for less-rambunctious crowds.

Central is trying to bring the noise back to its field house. So starting with Wednesday’s Fox Valley Conference opener against Burlington Central, the Tigers will move a set of their mobile bleachers behind the east basket, where “Central Crazies” will be encouraged to make plenty of noise.

Student fans might even want to ramp up the rowdiness when an opposing player is shooting a free throw.

And, thanks to a sponsor, Tigers coach Dan Oziminski said if the home team gets two dunks in an FVC game this season, the student section will get free doughnuts.

“We’re trying to bring life back over here,” said Oziminski, who’s in his second season as head coach after assisting Joe Capalbo for five seasons. “It’s been a while.”

The last time the Tigers had a winning season was in 2018-19, when they went 21-12 under Rich Czeslawski.

Still working it out: Crystal Lake Central, which went 6-26 last season and didn’t win an FVC game, opened the season by going 1-2 in its annual Tom Mueller Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Tigers started the season with a 68-40 win over Harvest Christian, before losing to Hononegah (63-39) and Belvidere (64-54), respectively.

While the Tigers didn’t have a player score in double digits in Saturday’s loss to Belvidere, all 11 who played scored at least one basket. Michael Shanahan came off the bench to score a team-high eight points, including two 3-pointers in the first quarter. Jackson Hopkins had seven points, four rebounds and three steals.

The Tigers were minus Carter Kelley (ankle) and Ben Kolodziej (illness), both of whom are coming off all-conference football seasons.

“We got athletes, through and through,” Oziminski said. “I’m trying to find a rotation. We’ll find it. People earn the minutes that they’re supposed to get.”

Central had only two players record a double-digit scoring game in its three tournament games. Shanahan had 14 points in the season opener against Harvest Christian, and JJ Parrish scored 10 points against Hononegah.

Oziminski said the Tigers will have to score by “committee” this season.

“Do we have a couple of guys who I can draw up a play for and go get a shot? Sure,” Oziminski said. “But I like the freedom, kind of motion basketball, open guy gets it. We’re all about one more pass and get the defense in close-out situations.”

Offense aside, Oziminski would like to see increased production on the defensive end.

“Zero charges and one floor burn in three games,” he said.

Sophomore Danny Spychala got the floor burn. The 6-foot-7 Spychala, a first-year varsity player, scored five points, including a 3-pointer, and grabbed three offensive rebounds against Belvidere.

Oziminski and Capalbo coached Spychala’s older brother, Luke.

“He’s trying to get his feet wet with varsity basketball,” Oziminski said. “He’ll get there. We’ll get him coached up. ... Great kid, great mind.”

Seeing double: Crystal Lake South identical twins John and Ryan Morgan saw plenty of court time in the Gators’ three Thanksgiving tournament games at Johnsburg.

The Morgans are 6-5 freshmen, and both play forward on an experienced team that features star guard AJ Demirov. The Morgans helped South go 2-1 in finishing third.

“It’s taken me about five months [to tell them apart],” Gators coach Matt LePage said with a laugh. “One [Ryan] is a righty, and one [John] is a lefty. And one has his hair a little longer.”

The Gators open defense of their FVC title Wednesday night at home against Dundee-Crown.

Respect for Mueller: Crystal Lake Central’s roster lists Tom Mueller as “executive coach.”

The venerable Mueller coached Capalbo, who named the tournament after his former high school coach a few years ago. Mueller served 25 years as an assistant coach at Central under Jim Condill, Jay Sergeant, Aaron Perkins, Czeslawski and Capalbo. He also served as head baseball coach.

“He’s such a blessing to me and my buddy Joe [Capalbo],” Oziminski said. “Tom jumps between both [boys and girls programs]. He just loves basketball, and he’s just a good, calming voice. I texted him after our first game. This gym was electric playing Harvest, and it was so nice to feel that again.

“This is just an incredible place to play. Everybody loves coming here to play, and we’re trying to put that product out there that they’re proud of.”