Boys basketball notes: Jacobs’ Ben Jurzak looks like a force for FVC teams to deal with

Jacobs boys basketball coach Jimmy Roberts called guards Brett Schlicker and Jackson Martucci two of the best shooters he has ever coached, which was saying something given the Golden Eagles’ level of play during Roberts’ 11 seasons at the helm.

Schlicker and Martucci graduated in the spring, but their spirit is with Jacobs in the form of guard Ben Jurzak, the remaining member of the trio that hit 50-plus 3-pointers and scored more than 10 points a game.

The 6-foot junior showed what he is capable of Wednesday night when he scored 22 points and hit five 3s in a 65-56 Fox Valley Conference victory over McHenry.

Jurzak hit his first 3 a few seconds before halftime, then tossed in three in the third quarter and another in the fourth to help the Eagles (1-4, 1-0 FVC) maintain their lead. It is the kind of performance to which Roberts is growing accustomed.

“Ben was great last week (at the Palatine Thanksgiving Tournament),” Roberts said. “We played some really good teams and there were times when Ben was the best player on the floor, and there were (NCAA) scholarship kids on every team we played.

“We had two really good shooters in Jackson and Brett, Ben’s pretty much on par with those guys. They’d be mad I say that, but he can shoot it like them, but Ben’s a better basketball player. He can handle it, he’s tough, he’s strong, he guards. He didn’t come out of the game. He doesn’t get tired, he stays solid.

“I want people to see the player that he is.”

Schlicker (11.9 ppg., 101 3s) led Jacobs in scoring last season. Martucci (10.7, 57 3s) suffered a knee injury early, but came back strong. And Jurzak, as a sophomore, was another vital scorer at 10.1 points per game with 54 3s.

“Jackson and Brett were huge role models for me playing with them those two years, learning from them, watching them shoot the ball,” Jurzak said. “Even last year, playing more with them. Now that they’re gone, my role steps up a little more. I get those shots and get to shoot the ball a little more. Having those two on my team helps me step into that role.”

Jurzak will be afforded some freedom from behind the arc like Schlicker and Martucci were. A couple of times in the first half, Jurzak faked from behind the line, stepped up and buried 18-footers, not forcing a 3 up, although Roberts would not have minded if he had.

“You don’t see a lot of guys shot fake on the arc and pull up mid-range and shoot jump shots,” Roberts said. “That’s Ben and the time he puts in.”

Roberts is thrilled that Jurzak works with basketball skills development coach Zac Boster, a Huntley graduate who trains some of the best players in the state and several who have reached NBA or play professionally overseas.

“Offseason he trains with Zac Boster and the best players in Illinois,” Roberts said. “He takes his licks a little bit. He’ll take his licks and then he’ll come back and make a play. He’s not afraid of the moment. He takes and makes tough shots.”

Jurzak is averaging 18.6 ppg. and is 20 of 47 on 3s for 42.6%.

Two in the club: Marian Central senior Christian Bentancur reached 1,000 points a year ago, in his junior season, and the Hurricanes now have the rarity of having two 1,000-point scorers on one team. Guard Cale McThenia passed 1,000 last week in the Johnsburg Thanksgiving Tournament.

McThenia, who averaged 19.3 points and was second in the area with 83 3s last season, needed only 18 points to reach 1,000 this season. Even more remarkable is that McThenia and Bentancur achieved their milestone was that the COVID-19 pandemic shortened their freshman season.

Ready for 300: Burlington Central coach Brett Porto became his alma mater’s winningest coach a few years back and is sitting at 299 career victories heading into Friday’s FVC game at Crystal Lake South.

The Rockets (3-1, 1-0 FVC) will be up against a South team that is 4-1, 1-0.

Porto’s last two teams were a combined 60-10 overall. The Rockets are 46-8, 44-2 since the start of the 2021-22 season. Porto was the Northwest Herald Boys Basketball Coach of the Year each of the last two seasons.

Hello, friend: Jacobs’ appearance at the Palatine Tournament last week meant that Roberts matched wits against former Huntley coach Will Benson, who is now coach at Stevenson. Benson left Huntley last summer after nine seasons with the Red Raiders. His teams were 136-128 and won two Class 4A regional championships.

Collin Kalamatas, a former assistant with Benson who coached Burlington Central’s girls the last four years, took over at Huntley this season. He will see his former boss when Stevenson visits Huntley on Thursday, Dec. 21.

The Raiders jumped out to a 5-0 start heading into play Friday.