The regular season of the Full Package exposure league brought to you by Illinoishsbasketball.com is over, and it’s almost playoff time. Week 6 of Freshman/Sophomore action was highlighted by some defense oriented games, as the teams were playing as hard as they could on both ends in trying to improve their playoff seeding.
Week 6 kicked off with the premier match-up of the day, as arguably the top two teams in the league went head to head. North Carolina and Purdue sit atop their respective conferences, as each team only has one loss. The game was close from start to finish, and all players involved played very hard nosed basketball. Jermaine Winfield (North Lawndale) was dominant as always, racking up 26 points and 14 rebounds for Purdue. However, he for the first time throughout the league, he had trouble on the defensive end as his counterpart Corday Sims (North Lawndale) went for 19 points and 11 rebounds of his own. Austin Weber (Glenbrook North) and Duje Dukan (Deerfield) were both hot from outside all game, as Weber racked up 20 for Purdue, and Dukan was the games leading scorer as he put up 30 points for North Carolina. The deciding factor in the game was Jimmy Stamas (Lyons) as he put up 16 points for Purdue in a 75-68 victory. Freshman Jacquez Jones (North Lawndale) scored 10 for North Carolina.
Duke and Florida State came into their week 6 match-up tied for 3rd place in the ACC, and both teams needed the win to reach .500 for the season. Thanks to another big time performance from Barrington’s Kyle O’Keefe (20 points), Duke managed to pull out a 67-51 win. Brian Fabrizius (Hersey) was very active on the defensive end and on the glass, but his 13 points just wasn’t enough to fuel the Florida State offense to a win. Connor Garvey led Florida State with 14 points, and Michael Melvin (GBN) added 14 for Duke.
Illinois took on Iowa in an effort to move into second place in the Big Ten standings. Garrett Jones (Evanston) proved the theory that one player can not win a game by himself, as his Iowa team lost the defensive struggle 36-47 despite his impressive 27 point output. Freshman Rashad Wahab (Lincoln Park) was impressive in all facets of the game, as he led Illinois with 12 points and 10 assists. Quin Gorski (Wheaton Academy) added 11 for Illinois.
Last-place Northwestern took on Michigan State, hoping to come away with their first win of the season. The game was a defensive battle from the beginning, as the teams scored a combined 71 points: less then Wake Forest and Purdue’s team point output this week. 6-5 Pat Husain (Evanston) was impressive for Northwestern scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Despite Husain’s strong output Michigan State managed to come away with the win, 37-34.
Wake Forest came into week 6 trying to secure a #1 seed in the playoffs, and they were successful as they defeated Maryland 82-65 to finish the regular season with a 5-1 record. Nate Johnson (Stevenson) was the games high scorer, as he put up 20 for Wake Forest. Patrick Woolfolk (North Lawndale) added 17 in a winning effort. Nuse Khan (Maine East) scored 17 points in an effort to win the league’s season scoring crown, and Mary Heck added 17 for Maryland.