Sports
Here are the top Rockford-area basketball games to watch this week – Rockford Register Star
Boys basketball season begins this week and the girls season started last week. Here are the top games to look for involving Rockford-area teams this week as Thanksgiving tournaments get into full swing:
Auburn should be the top team in the NIC-10 this year and the Knights take a tour of the nation this week without leaving home. The first annual Fred VanVleet Classic replaces the 205 Tip-off Classic and Auburn plays Legacy Academy of Spring, Texas, 8 p.m. Monday, always-strong Chicago Whitney Young 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Memphis (Tennessee) Douglass 7 p.m. Friday and Choctaw (Oklahoma) in the final game of the tourney 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
Want to see two of the three best basketball recruits in Illinois? Then come out to see Harvey Thornton vs. Peoria Richwoods 7 p.m. Friday at Boylan. Or you can see how local teams stack up against those two big-time big men when Freeport plays Thornton 6:30 Tuesday or when Lutheran plays Richwoods 2:30 Wednesday and 4:30 Saturday. The tourney also offers Lutheran, coming off four straight undefeated seasons in the Big Northern, taking on Boylan 5:30 Friday in a Rockford private school showdown.
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Scales Mound, one of the smallest public schools in the state, has taken third and second in the state in Class 1A the last two years. The Hornets, led by returning second-team All-Stater Thomas Hereau, should be strong again and open with four games in its own tournament. The best of these games should be against Dakota, which finished third in the NUIC North last year and 17-13 overall.
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Defending NIC-10 champ Hononegah beat South Elgin, Huntley, Palatine and Dundee-Crown to finish 4-0 at the Dundee-Crown tourney. Hononegah is off this week, but Boylan plays its last game at the same tournament when it plays Palatine (2-2) 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Titans are 3-0 with the tourney and also beat South Elgin and Huntley, along with Arllington Heights St. Viator. Boylan and Hononegah should be the top two teams in the NIC-10.
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
