It’s March Madness continued. It only heats up. Schools in The Voice circulation area see the statement as more than basketball. The do-or-die process includes St. Charles North High School, for example as the State swimming and diving champion, which was determined Saturday at Evanston High School. The North Stars finished two points ahead of Loyola Academy. Waubonsie Valley took fifth place and St. Charles East finished in seventh place.
College conference basketball tournaments are in view, conference races are reaching a climactic conclusion, and a sense of dramatic end to teams’ seasons come into play. Host North Central College (see page 12) fell to Elmhurst in the CCIW conference tournament semifinals after winning the regular season. Elmhurst won the tournament championship. Both teams advanced to the NCAA Division III 64-team national tournament. North Central will play host to two games Friday. North Central will play Adrian (Mich.) and Wisconsin-Oshkosh will play Transylvania (Ky.) Friday. The championship game will be Saturday. Elmhurst will play in Wooster, Ohio.
We can count high school conference showdown games as part of the Madness. East Aurora High School’s boys basketball team in its continuing revival, brought its Upstate Eight Conference boys championship hopes to Glenbard South in Glen Ellyn, each team 15-2, Wednesday of last week. Host Glenbard South won, 60-56, to claim the championship with a 16-2 record.
“It was a great game,” Glenbard South head coach Wade Hardtke said. “It came down to the wire. We had a lead early but (East Aurora) cut into our lead to take a lead late in the game. Fortunately, we caused a turnover late in the game which led to a lay up and a foul and then we made enough free throws in the last seconds to finish the game. East Aurora is extremely athletic. Brandon Malone had some key baskets down the stretch to put us over the edge.”
Each team was set this week for regional tournament games Wednesday, East Aurora at Oswego East in Class 4A regional play, and Glenbard South against Chicago Solorio in the Class 3A Riverside-Brookfield Regional tournament. Regional championship games will be Friday.
Important early boys tournament games this week in Class 3A and 4A included, as usual, a few upsets. In Class 4A Lockport Sectional, No. 14 West Aurora defeated No. 3 Waubonsie Valley Tuesday in the West Aurora Regional by 47-41. West Aurora will play in Friday’s championship game against No. 11 Plainfield Central, which defeated No. 6 Lincoln-Way Central, by 58-44. Waubonsie Valley ended its successful season with a 27-5 record. The results brought a sudden conclusion to the season.
In other games, Naperville Central and Naperville North won first-round games, Glenbard East defeated Willowbrook, 75-70, in overtime. Co-champions in the DuKane Conference, St. Conference, St. Charles North and St. Charles East, each advanced to a Friday championship game against each other in the Elgin Regional. North defeated South Elgin, 54-40, and East defeated Streamwood, 95-69.
In Class 1A, Aurora Christian captured the Aurora Christian Regional tournament championship with A 73-48 victory over Mooseheart in the final game.
“We played great defense,” Aurora Christian head coach Dan Beebe said. “To hold a team of (Mooseheart’s) caliber to 48 points is impressive.” Starting guard Karsen Olson scored 21 points to lead the Eagles in scoring. “Everyone has been improving throughout the year,” Beebe said.
Aurora Christian was set to play Chicago Uplift Wednesday in a semifinal game at Harvest Christian in Elgin. In another Class 1A sectional semifinal, Newark’s game Wednesday was against Chicago Leo in the Ottawa Marquette Sectional in Marseilles.
In spite of what happens the rest of tournament play, conference champions will savor their accomplishments permanently. Included in the honor roll of conference champions: St. Charles East and St. Charles North in the DuKane Conference; Cary-Grove in the Fox Valley Conference; Plano in the Interstate Eight; Marengo in the Kishwaukee River; Indian Creek in the Little Ten; Aurora Christian and Chicago Christian in the Metro Suburban Blue; Timothy Christian n the Metro Suburban Blue, Harvest Christian in the Northeastern Athletic; Joliet West in the Southwest Prairie East; Oswego East in the Southwest Prairie West; Lincoln-Way Central in the Southwest Suburban Red; Glenbard South in the Upstate Eight; Hinsdale South in the West Suburban Gold; and York in the West Suburban Silver.
Aware of the sudden defeat and end to the season, Glenbard South’s Hardtke said, “Our (Riverside-Brookfield) Regional is tough. We play another athletic team (after East Aurora) in Solorio.”
In Division I college, the Big Ten Conference race has seven teams (half) within two games of first place and most teams have two games remaining.
The NCAA selection Sunday Show will be at 5 p.m. Sunday, March 15. The Big Ten will wind up with many teams in the 68-team field and likely exceed last year’s eight teams selected to begin the tournament journey in March Madness.
Aurora Christian girls took fourth place in the Class 1A State high school tournament Saturday at Redbird Arena at Illinois State University in Normal. The larger 3A and 4A fields will play sectional championship games this week to be followed by super-sectional games Monday to fill a field of four teams in each class in the State tournaments in Normal.
The boys will follow in Peoria the following weekend in Classes 1A and 2A and conclude the high school Winter season with Class 3A and Class 4A tournaments in Peoria, March 20-21.