Silence is deafening at NOW Arena: Northwest Herald boys basketball notes

It might be the closest high school basketball fans get to hearing coaches and players mic’ed up during a game.

Burlington Central and Cary-Grove played a varsity girls and boys doubleheader last week at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. If you were seated close enough to the court during the Fox Valley Conference games, you might have heard players and coaches talking.

[ Read more: Jake Johnson, Burlington Central celebrate at NOW Arena ]

“Yeah, it is pretty quiet in here,” Central boys coach Brett Porto said after his Rockets beat C-G 57-40 on Jan. 14 at the multipurpose facility. “You can tell who’s talking and who’s not talking on defense, that’s for sure.”

NOW Arena, which is home of the Chicago Bulls' NBA G League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, has a seating capacity of 11,218. That’s significantly more than any high school gym, and while the atmosphere of playing on a professional and larger court made for a great and maybe once-in-a-lifetime experience for the players, intimacy was missing.

The lack of noise, despite cheering from fans of both teams, also was apparent, in what amounted to basically a cavernous environment.

“It’s too quiet,” C-G coach Adam McCloud said. “You either need more people or you need to pump in some noise. I mean, it’s a cool atmosphere to play.”

McCloud wasn’t making excuses for his team, which trailed only 24-23 at halftime before being outscored 33-17 in the second half.

“At the end of the day, the team that executed better won the game,” McCloud said. “So whether we’re here, or we’re at Cary-Grove or Burlington Central, wherever, we got to execute better and we got to finish around the rim.”

Cary-Grove and Central close out the regular season against each other Feb. 21 in Burlington.

Harvard making strides, slowly: Harvard’s 51-38 loss Friday night at Marengo in the FNBO Challenge left the Hornets with a 4-11 record, including 0-6 in the Kishwaukee River Conference.

Brian Heidtke’s Hornets went 2-28 (0-14 KRC) last season, which was his first as head coach.

“Still getting the culture going and the philosophy down,” Heidtke said. “I think we’re getting better. We couldn’t play man-to-man defense last year. We’ve really taken a step in that area, so it’s building blocks, little pieces at a time.”

Richmond-Burton runners-up in Wisconsin: Richmond-Burton went 3-1 in the South Beloit MLK tournament, which featured teams playing twice Saturday and Monday.

Guard Gavin Radmer (21.3 ppg) and forward Luke Robinson were named to the all-tournament team for the Rockets.