Inside boys basketball

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Athlete of the Week

Brandon Rodriguez

Dundee-Crown, sr.

The 6-foot guard helped the Chargers win their first two Fox Valley Conference Valley Division games the past week against Jacobs and Prairie Ridge.

Rodriguez scored 10 points Saturday in D-C’s 49-38 victory against Jacobs. He came back and dropped in 19 against Prairie Ridge on Tuesday in the Chargers’ 51-40 win. Rodriguez led the Chargers with 20 points and hit the game-winning shot in their 48-43 victory against McHenry Friday night.

Rodriguez and forward Dylan Kissack were on fire against Prairie Ridge, hitting 12 of their last 14 shots combined. Rodriguez was 8 for 12 in the game and hit his last seven field-goal attempts.

Rodriguez’s best shot of the game came just before halftime when he rebounded a missed shot and dribbled past halfcourt before launching a 30-footer that swished through for a 23-22 halftime lead.

D-C is 10-6 overall, 3-0 in the FVC Valley.

Noteworthy

Big-time atmosphere: Johnsburg will meet Lake Zurich on Jan. 28 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, with both teams later hanging around for the NBA game between the Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Johnsburg boys coach Mike Toussaint said the game was arranged by Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher. It originally was scheduled as a Johnsburg home game. Johnsburg’s announcer and scorer’s table personnel will work the game.

“Billy did a lot of work on it and asked me if we’d like to do it,” Toussaint said. “I said, ‘Yeah, that’d be great.’ ”

The sophomore game will start at 1:15 p.m., with the varsity to play at 3:15 p.m. Both teams will be able to watch the Bucks’ and Lakers’ shoot-arounds before their game.

Also, the Johnsburg and Lake Zurich feeder programs will be involved. Toussaint said there will be a short sixth-grade game at halftime of the sophomore game, a seventh-grade game between the sophomores and varsity, and an eighth-grade game at halftime of the varsity game.

Johnsburg is selling tickets for the event for $30.

Margiotta coming back: Prairie Ridge forward Nick Margiotta had an MRI done on his injured right wrist and plans on returning to the team. Margiotta played only two games early in the season when pain in his wrist became too much.

Margiotta suffered the injury in football while helping the Wolves win the IHSA Class 6A state championship. He was a starter last season in basketball and at 6-3, 235 pounds will give the Wolves an inside presence.

It’s a boy: Huntley coach Marty Manning missed his team’s 63-29 victory against Prairie Ridge Friday. He was at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates with his wife, Kristan, who gave birth to their second boy, Marcus William, at 6:05 p.m. Manning said mother and baby were doing well.

Assistant coach Ryan Starnes took over in Manning’s absence.

This week’s top games

Martin Luther King Classic

Monday at Woodstock North

Richmond-Burton vs. Dyett at 2:30 p.m.; St. Viator vs. Marian Central at 4 p.m.; Woodstock vs. Antioch at 5:30 p.m.; Marengo vs. Woodstock North at 7 p.m.
CL Central at Grayslake Central

7 p.m. Wednesday

These two teams, along with Hampshire, are expected to battle it out in the FVC Fox Division.

SEnD Joe Stevenson
joestevenson@shawmedia.com