Boys Basketball

After a slow start on offense, Iowa football commit Terrence Smith dropped 17 points in the second half to help West Aurora comeback and get a 49-40 victory over Geneva in the final match of the MLK Day of Hoops.

Geneva boys basketball faced West Aurora in the Geneva MLK Day of Hoops on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.

Hunter Stepanich scored 19 points to lead York past Yorkville at the Geneva MLK Day of Hoops, Downers Grove North girls basketball won at Coach Kipp Hoopsfest and more in Monday's roundup.

Martin Ledbetter scores 30 as Hinkley Big Rock wins. DeKalb boys win, Kaneland girls split and Indian Creek girls advance in Little Ten Tournament, plus more scores in the Daily Chronicle sports roundup.

Nazareth's Stella Sakalas scored 17 points, including her 1,000th career point, in a win over York at the Coach Kipp Hoopsfest, and Downers Grove South's girls and Downers Grove North, Benet and IC Catholic Prep boys were winners in Saturday's roundup.

Riverside-Brookfield senior Brycen Grove completed a rare four-point play during a 15-3 run in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs topped Lyons Township 69-66 on Saturday.

Nolan Lukach made a pair of free throws with 0.2 seconds left to give Streator a 52-50 road win over Morris.

Burlington Central held a 23-22 lead in the first half against Fremd, but a 15-3 run by the Vikings in the third quarter put the game away in their semifinal matchup at the Lakes MLK Classic. The Rockets will face Mundelein for third place at 1 p.m. Monday.

The Lockport and Bradley-Bourbonnais boys basketball teams played a thriller of a SouthWest Suburban Conference game on Friday, with second place in the conference standings on the line

Kankakee boys basketball coach Chris Pickett was the first to admit that the start to the Kays' senior night game against Clemente Friday night was “sloppy.”

Derek Bibbings had 15 points and eight rebounds, and Marengo's boys basketball team beat Harvard 51-38 in the teams' annual FNBO Challenge on Friday night for only its second win this season.

Lockport beat Bradley-Bourbonnais 57-52 Friday with second place in the SouthWest Suburban Conference on the line.

A swarming defensive performance by Glenbard West junior TJ Williams pestered York ball-handlers all night long, leading Glenbard West to an impressive 59-25 victory.

Luke Wojcik and Andrew Hill each scored 12 points to lead IC Catholic Prep past St. Francis, Downers Grove North beat Lyons and Hinsdale Central beat Wheaton Academy in Friday's roundup.

St. Bede played tough defense and controlled the boards Friday to beat Roanoke-Benson 56-41.

Sycamore senior guard Unique Shaw netted eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter to help the Spartans hold off visiting Ottawa 48-42 in Friday's Interstate 8 Conference game.

Blake Fagbemi electrified the Benet crowd with a soaring tip dunk a minute in Friday, and did his best work serving up others with 12 assists, but the cold-shooting Redwings lost to visiting St. Patrick 53-49.

Geneva made 25 free throws, including 14 in the fourth quarter, in a 56-48 win over Naperville Central on Friday.

The Streator Bulldogs completed their first run through their 2024-25 Illinois Central Eight Conference schedule undefeated Friday night with a 58-21 handling of visiting Wilmington.

Lucas Craig and Matt Graham stepped up their scoring to lead Marquette to a win over Putnam County.

Benet Academy hosted St. Patrick in boys varsity basketball on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025 in Lisle.

Newman used its aggressive 1-3-1 half-court zone to speed up Hall, and hit 3-pointers and fast-break layups on the offensive end in one of their most complete performances of the season for a 71-49 Three Rivers East victory at home.

L-P scored 30 points in the first quarter and led by double digits the rest of the way in an 80-60 victory over Rochelle on Friday.

Oswego hosted Plainfield South in boys varsity basketball on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025.

Minooka coach Brett Hespell likes to build his teams around defensive tenacity and grit and this year's bunch of Indians seem to have bought in, employing both in a 46-41 win over Joliet West on Friday.

The Fulton boys used a smothering defensive effort and Jacob Voss led the team with 16 points in a 46-32 NUIC South win at Amboy on Friday night.

With Joliet West's loss to Minooka on Friday, Plainfield South is now just half a game out of third place in the Southwest Prairie Conference after a win over Oswego.

Bolingbrook's Davion Thompson joins the 1,000 point club, Gabriel Sularski looking good for Lemont, and more.

Talented freshman Cole Tillman, Marion Persich battled in Mendota, a pair of area players surpassed 1,000 points, several area players shooting well beyond the arc and more in the NewsTribune boys basketball notebook.

Fueled by senior point guard Niko Quaranta, St. Francis rallied from down eight at halftime to beat rival Wheaton Academy 56-49 on Thursday at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates.

Despite a 65-63 loss to Class 4A No. 3 Rich Township Tuesday night, Kankakee (12-3) climbed two spots from fifth to third in the Class 3A Poll

Despite graduating four of five starters off a sectional champion, Downers Grove North – 11 seniors strong – has kept up its winning ways this year. That, plus notes on Glenbard West and Lemont in Joshua Welge's boys basketball notebook.

Yorkville senior Luke Zook joined some lofty company Saturday, his 164th career win passing Nick Stemmet as the program's career wins leader. That, 24-2 Plano enjoying a year to remember and Yorkville Christian takes second at Morton Invite in Joshua Welge's wrestling notebook.

Kadin Malone's only basket of the game, an 18-footer at the buzzer, lifted Dundee-Crown's basketball team to a 50-49 win over Prairie Ridge on Wednesday night in a Fox Valley Conference thriller.

After leading by as many as 12 points, Glenbard North's defense stood tall in the final two minutes of play while sophomore Oturo Redento sank two layups to help the Panthers hold off Batavia in a 46-42 victory.

McHenry played a complete game Wednesday to beat Huntley 57-45 in the Warriors' first game without Adam Anwar.

Huntley faces McHenry in a Fox Valley Conference basketball game on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, at McHenry High School.

Stella Sakalas had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead Nazareth past Marist and Hayven Harden scored 23 points to pace Downers Grove South past Addison Trail in Thursday's roundup.

As the regular season starts to wind down and the postseason gets closer on the radar, many Times-area boys basketball teams and players are trending up in Brian Hoxsey's boys basketball notebook.

Trey Toussaint hit six 3-pointers as Johnsburg's boys basketball team beat Marengo, Cary-Grove girls rolled past Burlington Central at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, plus more results in Tuesday's Northwest Herald sports roundup.

The Kankakee boys basketball team faced one of its biggest tests of the season on Tuesday

It was a close game throughout, but featured just one lead change.

Danny Loftus scored 20 points to lead Riverside-Brookfield past Glenbard East in a matchup of Upstate Eight Conference leaders, Glenbard South girls basketball rolled to its 19th win and Hinsdale Central, Glenbard West and Downers Grove North boys won in Tuesday's roundup.

Patrick Shell scored a game-high 19 points, Jake Johnson had a double-double, and Burlington Central's basketball team pulled away to beat Cary-Grove 57-40 Tuesday night at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates.

Sophomore KJ Miller scored a team-high 21 points, including five in overtime, to lead Plainfield East to a 61-53 win over Plainfield North

Once United Township built the lead, it wasn’t about to give it back to Sterling. The Golden Warriors fell behind early and never recovered in a 68-59 loss to the Panthers in a Western Big 6 game Tuesday night at Musgrove Fieldhouse.

The Streator boys basketball team beat La Salle-Peru 58-50 on Tuesday.

While not having the best night all around, Kaneland did enough on the court to get a 50-39 victory over Naperville Central for their 15th consecutive victory.

Every game has its quirkiness, and this one certainly had its share as Hinckley-Big Rock finally got to Indian Creek late in a 54-43 victory.

For long stretches against Sycamore on Tuesday, it seemed like Darius Harrington and Dixon couldn’t miss in a 64-42 victory over the Spartans.