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InsideSportsExtraBack in actionAll the following boys basketball players were among the area leaders last season, and all are back for another year:ScoringPlayers, school G Pts. Avg.Jason Richards (Barr) 28 605 21 6Bryan Mead (HE) 27 562 20.8Matt Coming (Mun) 28 526 18.4Zach Pancratz (Sch) 26 434 16.7Jonny Reibel (HE) 30 492 16.4Craig Reichel (Sch) 26 413 15.9Matt Monaghan (Frmd) 25 396 15.8Mike Kolze (LZ) 25 386 15.4Justin Gray (Pros) 27 405 15.0Jack Simmons (Car) 21 287 13.83-pointers 1 Players, school G TotalBryan Mead (HE) 27 78Jason Richards (Barr) 28 60Bryan Porter (RM) 27 57Jonny Reibel (HE) 30 54Zach Pancratz (Sch) 26 51Free throws (minimum 2 FTA per game)Players, school G FTM-A PetMonaghan (Frmd) 25 98-115 .852Porter (RM) 27 58-69 .841Kolze (LZ) 25 55-66 .833Dwyer (Her) 26 62-78 .7951 Piironen (Stev) 26 59-75 .787Good answerBob Frisk takes the rare opportunity , to interview a fascinating personality — himself — in search of an answer to a persistent problem for columnists: ‘What are you going to ■ write about this week’? Page 3.Superstar lineup' With plenty of major-college talent on its roster, West Aurora gets the preseason nod as the Daily Herald’s No. 1 boys basketball team. Find out how Lake County’s team fit in the big picture. Pages 2,3.Still the oneSure, Naperville Central will be missing standout Candace Parser for most of the season as she recovers from knee surgery. But the defending state champions have plenty of talent returning. Page 4.Coming is tougher and ready for another big yearIt was the metal screws sticking out of his wrist.That’s what got Mundelein senior Matt Corning thinking about his future.“My sophomore year, I went snowboarding with a friend and my dad. I was doing a rail slide and the rail was icy and I slipped,” Corning said. “The whole weight of my body landed on my arm. I fractured it I pretty severely.”In fact, the fracture was so bad that doctors not only put a permanent pin inside Coming’s | wrist, they also fitted him with temporary pins that went through the bone and out the skin to offer even more support.“It was pretty painful having those pins come out of my skin,” Corning said. “Usually, they just put the pins inside. But that can take six weeks or more to fix a (routine) break. My break was really bad but by also going with those special pins, I was healed in like four weeks. When they took those pins out,Patricia Babcock McGrawit was weird to see holes in my arm. But my wrist felt good. It was like my doctor had performed a miracle on my arm.And so the light bulb went off.Corning, a straight-A honors student with an impressive 30 ACT score, decided then and there that he wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon.It might be the perfect calling for Corning, who knows intimately how painful injuries of the bones and joints can be.Not only has he done a number on his wrist, Corning has also been hampered by chronic back pain, which got so bad a few years ago that he was forced to wear a clunky back brace to school.As a lifelong basketball junkie,he’s also had bum ankles, sore knees and various other bumps, bruises and dings.But the injuries, no matter how big or small, haven’t prevented Corning from ascending to star status at the high school level.In fact, as the basketball season opens next week, Coming will be one of the most heavily marked players in the North Suburban Conference.The veteran 6-foot-4 forward is coming off a junior campaign in which he averaged more than 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists per game. His ability to pound around inside, clean the glass and dunk as aptly as he could knock down all kinds of perimeter shots made him a nightmaie to defend.“He presented a really tough matchup for every single team we played,” Mundelein coach Perry Wilhelm said excitedly. “I’m counting on that being the case again.”The good news for Wilhelm,as his team tries to rebound from a sub-.500 season, (and the bad news for every other team in the North Suburban Conference) is that Corning won’t be as tough to guard this season. He’ll likely be tougher.Since last season, Coming has hit the gym hard and gotten stronger and faster. And thanks to playing with one of the best AAU programs in the state of Illinois last summer, he’s become a better shooter, dribbler and competitor, too.I played with Rising Stars (an AAU team out of Deerfield) and the best thing that I got from the experience was confidence,” said Coming, who made an alltournament team over the course of the summer and helped Rising Stars get an invitation to the Nike Showcase, one of the most exclusive high school AAU tournaments of the summer.“It was the most extensive traveling summer I’ve ever had. We played about 50 or 60 gamesand we went all over the place — Kentucky, Texas, Florida. We played against some of the best high school players in the country. And we had some really great players on our team, too. It was so competitive. But by the end of the summer, I really felt like I was holding my own.”Early on, however, it was a different story. Corning says he felt somewhat overwhelmed and out of place going up against the likes of Jason Richards of Barrington, Todd Babington ol Prairie Ridge, John Williams ot Glenbrook South, Justin Gray of Prospect, Brad Kalsow of Huntley, Kevin Polit of Hersey and Lucas Slater of McHenry — all of whom were Rising Stars teammates. Plus, the Rising Stars were routinely taking on teams stocked with all-Ameri-can-caiiber players.“I have to admit, 1 kind of struggled at first, Corning said. “It was kind of like culture shockSeeMundelein boys basketball standout Matt Corning has a handle on his senior year and a career in medicine when his basketball days are over.
Newspaper Details
Arlington Heights Daily Herald Suburban Chicago
Arlington Heights, Illinois, US
Fri, Nov 21, 2003
Page 329
Full Page
Clipped by
Thomas C.
USA 21 May 2025
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