Brunschon's summer push pays off

Huntley’s Tyler Brunschon (left) looks to drive past Crystal Lake Central’s Alex Polk during a Dec. 4 game. Brunschon, a junior, leads area players with a scoring average of 18.1 points a game. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@nwherald.com)

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HUNTLEY – Almost every morning last summer, Tyler Brunschon went to the Huntley Park District gymnasium and met Huntley assistant boys basketball coach Tony Jones.

Jones played for former Purdue coach Gene Keady from 1987-90 on some of the Boilermakers’ best teams, so he has plenty of knowledge to pass along to Brunschon.

They worked on Brunschon’s fakes, driving to the basket, one- and two-dribble pull-up jumpers and other shooting drills.

“We’d keep doing them over and over again,” Brunschon said. “I was not used to it, but I carried it over to games and it got me prepared for the season.”

The 6-foot-2 junior guard proved he could shoot last season as a sophomore when he hit 28 three-pointers. Now, with an expanded role, he is shooting well, but his all-around game has made him one of the area’s most prolific scorers.

Brunschon has hit 38 three-pointers – second in the area to Crystal Lake South’s Kevin Rogers (39) – and leads all players with a scoring average of 18.1 points a game. Best of all for the Red Raiders, Huntley’s young team, which normally starts only one senior, is rolling along at 11-4.

“The No. 1 thing is his confidence is so much higher,” Huntley coach Marty Manning said. “He knows he can play at this level. Now he has a mid-range game and he’s a little better going to the basket.”

Along with Jones, Brunschon gives a lot of credit to Tom Peterson, his coach with the Illinois Magic travel team. He played on the Magic with Jacobs’ Mike Peterson and Nick Hofman, Hampshire’s Tyler Watzlawick and Woodstock’s Mike Sutter.

“I played on prior AAU teams, but they weren’t like this one,” Brunschon said. “We were running and pushing the ball, and it really helped me. It gave me more confidence.”

An early sign of how dangerous Brunschon could be came Dec. 4 at Crystal Lake Central. The Tigers led, but Brunschon went off for 11 consecutive points that prompted a timeout. The Raiders won that game going away.

“I’m just trying to make Tyler a complete player,” Jones said. “He’s a Division III player for sure. Next summer we’ll try to make the next step. He pretty much has standstill shooting down, so we worked on shooting off the dribble and pull-up jumpers in transition. This summer, we’ll work more on change-of-direction stuff.”

There was work during the season, as well. Jones and Brunschon went to watch Mundelein guard Ben Brust play in the Jacobs Holiday Classic, just to see how he played. Brust is considered one of the top guards in the Chicago suburbs and is headed to Iowa.

When Brunschon wasn’t playing or practicing basketball, he sometimes worked on his aunt and uncle’s farm tossing bales of hay and straw around, which helped him add 15 pounds. He now weighs 180 pounds, which also helps him getting to the basket.

“He’s stronger and a little taller,” Manning said. “He’s much more aggressive and he plays a lot bigger.”