The playoffs are now underway for the Freshman/Sophomore division of the Full Package exposure league brought to you by Illinoishsbasketball.com, and half of the teams in the field are still in the hunt for the title.
The playoffs kicked off with Northwestern taking on Purdue, attempting to earn their first win of the season. Despite a strong 19 point output from Ben Newman (Evanston), Northwestern fell short of the win 55-73. Purdue was again led by their guards, and that talented trio could very well lead them to a league title. Jimmy Stamas (Lyons) led Purdue with 20, Steve Thorpe (North Lawndale) scored 17, and 6-3 Austin Weber (Glenbrook North) added 13. 6-5 PF Pat Husain (Evanston) added 11 points 10 rebounds and 3 blocks for Northwestern.
Despite star point guard Patrick Woolfolk (North Lawndale) having a poor shooting night, Wake Forest still managed to come up with a big 73-50 win over Florida State.
Freshman Jory Berg (Deerfield) had a breakout performance for Wake, as he scored a team high 18 points. Brian Fabrizius (Hersey) could possibly be the top prospect in the league, but the 6-8 forward’s 18 points and 11 rebounds weren’t enough to win it for Florida State. Freshman Zach Hilgendorf (Glenbrook North) scored 14 for Wake Forest, and Alex Cecola (Loyola) added 13 for Florida State.
Iowa and Michigan State matched up in a Big Ten conference battle, and the winner of this game would go on to play again later that day. Star freshman Garrett Jones (Evanston) had another huge game for Iowa on the heels of last weeks 27 point output, as he scored 17 points and added 9 assists in a 66-51 win. The Buffalo Grove duo of Nick Prus and Tommy Riccardi played very well for Michigan State, scoring 13 and 15 points respectively. Shawn Wallace (Notre Dame) quietly had another huge game for Iowa, as he led them with 22 points. Wallace could emerge as a big time prospect this season playing varsity for Niles Notre Dame.
Nus Kahn (Maine East) made a last push for the league scoring title as his Maryland squad took on Duke, but his 31 points just weren’t enough to win the game as Duke came away with the “W” 67-57. Tom Antosz and Kyle O’Keefe (Barrington) have been fueling Duke’s balanced attack all season, and the duo came up big again in the playoffs scoring 20 and 19 points, respectively.
Iowa played their second game of the day against Illinois, after defeating Michigan State earlier in the day. Iowa came close to pulling the upset, but an unlikely hero led Illinois to the win. James Knight had his highest scoring output of the season for Illinois, as he was the game’s leading scorer with 16 points. Freshman Rashad Wahab (Lincoln Park) had another big game for Illinois, scoring 14 points and dishing out 8 assists. 6-3 freshman wing Jack Ryan (Glenbrook South) added 10 for Illinois, while Shawn Wallace led Iowa with 12.