Jan. 24--Riverside-Brookfield rarely gets challenged in its own conference.
Following 14 straight Metro Suburban Conference titles and with four returning starters from the school's first sectional championship -- plus a much deeper bench -- veteran coach Tom McCloskey backloaded his schedule to prepare for an even deeper run in the Class 4A playoffs.
The best way to prepare for 4A, this year anyway, is to take on the best slightly smaller schools, as 3A appears to be even stronger than 4A in 2015-16.
The No. 11 Bulldogs (14-3) played their first of three extremely talented 3A teams on their schedule over the next month on Saturday.
With balanced scoring from guards Daniko Jackson and Jalen Clanton, shooting forward Skyler Nash and 6-foot-7 center Mark Smith, R-B led No. 4 Fenwick for most of the contest before falling victim to another great game by Friars point guard Mike Smith and dropping a 67-64 decision.
"We love to play games like this because it makes you a better team playing against a highly ranked team like Fenwick," McCloskey said. "You get tested and it shows you anything you need to work on. We've got a little over a month before the state tournament and we need to keep improving."
McCloskey's team will get another such opportunity Saturday against No. 9 St. Joseph at Batavia's "Night of Hoops" and will be given the ultimate test against No. 1 Morgan Park in the City-Suburban Showdown on Feb. 20 at Lyons.
Free-throw shooting was an issue against Fenwick, as the Bulldogs were just 2-for-11 from the line in the fourth quarter while Fenwick's Smith went 8-for-10.
McCloskey said his team has shot reasonably well from the line throughout the season, and he was in no way disheartened by his team's performance.
"Obviously I hate losing, but I thought the intensity was really good, defensively we did some nice things," he said. "I thought our rebounding was really quite good. Our balance inside and outside was good. Mike Smith had a tremendous second half and we struggled a little bit at the free-throw line and we fell short."
Coach's got jokes: Fenwick coach Rick Malnati's sense of humor presents itself the more Fenwick wins, which has become quite frequent.
Malnati had a great line about his top shooter, 6-5 senior Mike Ballard, who had a great second half last season but struggled with his shot for much of this winter before coming on lately.
Ballard scored 15 points and had three 3-pointers against R-B, including a big one in Fenwick's fourth-quarter comeback.
"He is a second-semester shooter," Malnati said. "Thank God it is second semester. He got hot in the second semester last year, and we anticipate he is going to get hot again."
Malnati loves Ballard, who has a great attitude and takes his coach's ribbing well.
"Percentage-wise, I haven't been shooting as well as last year so far," Ballard said. "Coach Malnati said, 'Second semester last year you turned it on.' The last couple games I really do feel like I've been shooting a lot better. Our team has been playing well. I really think what he said, I guess, is true."
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
