February 22, 2025
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Boys basketball postseason storylines to watch in McHenry County

Burlington Central, Cary-Grove to play each other back-to-back

By Joe Aguilar
Burlington Central's Caden West (right) tries push off of Crystal Lake South's Anthony Demirov as they try to get a loose ball during a Fox Valley Conference basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, at Crystal Lake South High School.

Burlington Central's Caden West (right) pushes off Crystal Lake South's AJ Demirov as they try to get a loose ball during a Fox Valley Conference game last month at Crystal Lake South High School. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver )

The postseason begins in boys basketball Monday, and Northwest Herald-area teams will compete in all four IHSA classes spread over four counties next week.

McHenry hosts the only Class 4A regional in McHenry County. Jacobs also is at McHenry and opens against the host school Wednesday. Hampshire and Huntley travel to Winnebago County to compete in the Class 4A Rockford East Regional, while Dundee-Crown has a shorter drive, as it competes in the Class 4A Barrington Regional (Lake County).

McHenry County will have Class 3A regionals at Prairie Ridge and Woodstock North. Besides the host Wolves, Burlington Central, Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake Central and Crystal Lake South also are at Prairie Ridge. The Woodstock North Regional includes the host Thunder and Harvard, while Woodstock buses to Stephenson County for the Freeport Regional.

In Class 2A, host Marian Central hosts a regional that also includes Marengo and Richmond-Burton. Johnsburg travels west to play in the Rockford Christian Regional. Alden-Hebron plays in the Class 1A Durand Regional in Winnebago County.

Here are some storylines to watch.

Rinse, repeat

Burlington Central and Cary-Grove will play back-to-back games against each other.

The two Fox Valley Conference teams wrap up regular-season play Friday, then open the state tournament with a rematch. No. 3 Central and No. 5 C-G tip off at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Prairie Ridge, after No. 2 Crystal Lake South faces either No. 8 Prairie Ridge or No. 9 Crystal Lake Central at 6 p.m. in the first game of the doubleheader. The regional feeds into the Class 3A Rochelle Sectional.

“In 16 years [as head coach], I’ve never had that, where you play a team in the last regular-season game and then the first postseason game,” Central coach Brett Porto said.

Central beat C-G 57-40 in the teams' first meeting Jan. 14.

Which 20-win team will go home?

If the seeds hold up, the Prairie Ridge Regional final will feature two 20-win teams, as Burlington Central would face Crystal Lake South, hoping the third time is the charm. South (26-4) beat Central (22-8) twice during the regular season, 66-61 on Dec. 6 and 72-58 on Jan. 28.

Porto isn’t looking past C-G. The Trojans (17-13, 7-10 FVC), however, are 4-8 in their past 12 games.

“Quality programs, well-coachedtough kids,” Porto said of Adam McCloud’s Trojans and Matt LePage’s South Gators. “So [the regional] will be very difficult. Right now really all we can worry about is practice [Thursday] and Friday’s [regular-season finale], and go from there.”

Can McHenry rediscover its mojo?

The good news for McHenry is that the Warriors have star forward Adam Anwar back from injury after the junior missed 12 games in a row with a broken wrist.

McHenry’s Adam Anwar, right, battles under the hoop against Jacobs’ Samson Averehi in varsity basketball on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 at McHenry High School in McHenry.

McHenry’s Adam Anwar (right) battles under the hoop against Jacobs’ Samson Averehi in December 2024 at McHenry High School. (Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local/Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local)

The bad news for the Warriors is that they are 4-4 in their past eight games.

McHenry (24-6) was 20-2 after an emotional win at Crystal Lake South on Jan. 31. The win completed a season sweep of the Gators and gave the Warriors a two-game lead in the FVC with six games left. But McHenry needed overtime to beat Burlington Central (64-57), then suffered upset losses to Prairie Ridge (61-48) and Dundee-Crown (48-45).

South, meanwhile, has won six straight since losing on its home court to McHenry to pull even atop the FVC standings with the Warriors. McHenry visits Huntley on Friday, while South travels to Hampshire.

McHenry drew the No. 3 seed in the Waukegan Sectional and opens the postseason on its home court Wednesday against No. 5 Jacobs (15-15), which has lost 10 of its past 12 games. McHenry swept Jacobs during the regular season, winning 64-52 on Dec. 4 and 55-45 on Jan. 24.

Rockets soaring

Despite Wednesday’s 71-61 loss to host Plano in its regular-season finale and a fifth-place finish in the Kishwaukee River Conference, Richmond-Burton is in the midst of its best season in 10 years.

Richmond-Burton’s Gavin Radmer, right, works past Woodstock’s Joseph Nitz in varsity basketball on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 at James M. Shipley Memorial Gymnasium on the campus of Woodstock High School in Woodstock.

Richmond-Burton’s Gavin Radmer (right) works past Woodstock’s Joey Nitz in December 2024 at Woodstock High School. (Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local/Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local)

The Rockets, who finished 8-6 in the KRC, are 21-9 under second-year coach Rich Petska, whose team went 17-13 last season. It’s R-B’s first 20-win campaign since going 22-6 under Brandon Creason in 2014-15.

R-B, seeded fifth in the Class 2A Marengo Sectional, opens play in the Class 2A Marian Central Regional on Monday at home against No. 12 Waukegan Cristo Rey St. Martin in a play-in game. The winner plays at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday against No. 3 Rockford Lutheran (13-16) at Marian Central.

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