Zach Fleisher of the Giants goes all out while diving for a loose ball in a game against Deerfield last month. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JON DURR
Zach Fleisher might be a little misplaced playing the center position.
A tad — or maybe, two tads — under 6-foot, the effervescent Highland Park High School senior just doesn’t look the part.
But Fleisher has found ways to compensate. Watch him closely and he’ll get your vote for Mr. Ingenuity.
He’s innovative in the paint. Smart. Clever. Cunning. He’s got the guile to get it done.
Being a master of the ball fake — and the head fake — and being able to deftly go to his right or his left to score the ball, Fleisher has license to improvise. He’s a trial and error guy, when he gets the ball down low.
“He plays big,” said HP head coach Paul Harris, following his team’s 48-31 setback to host Maine West on Jan. 8. “He’s plays a lot bigger than his stature.”
So far, Fleisher has been a pretty good fit underneath.
During the first 13 games of the season, Fleisher leads the 3-10 Giants in scoring (10.2 per game) and rebounding (4.9). He’s shooting 58 percent from the field and 71 percent from the foul line.
He was a bright spot — 11 points and 11 rebounds — in HP’s loss to Maine West.
Being relentless on the boards is part of his deal. He’s a battler, who’s not afraid to get physical. He goes after rebounds with a vengeance.
“Go for the ball and rip it down as hard as I can. That’s what I try to do,” said Fleisher, who tallied four points and five rebounds in the third quarter at MW. “I don’t care who is in the area. I go for it.”
And he’s not afraid of floor burns.
“I love diving for loose balls [see photo on this page from the Highland Park-Deerfield game last month],” Fleisher said. “That’s my game. That’s how I was taught.”
“He always plays hard,” said HP sophomore Ziv Tal, who tallied 11 points against the Warriors. “He always gives his best effort.”
Fleisher traces his success as an inside player back to his days with the Highwood Small Fry — a program with age and height restrictions. All players must be under 12 years old and no taller than 5-1.
“Coach (Verne) Reich put me at the five,” Fleisher said. “And I embraced the role.”
It was an adjustment. A point guard and two-guard prior to Small Fry, Fleisher had to shift to center and develop “big man” skills. He now has spin moves and drop steps down pat.
Meanwhile, being a team leader came a little more natural for Fleisher.
He not afraid to use his vocal cords. In fact, he’s the undeniable quarterback on this HP squad.
“He’s out there directing traffic and calling out screens,” said Harris. “And he handles that role well.”
Fleisher also is not afraid to be … hard on himself.
“He’s his own toughest critic,” said Harris. “I need to pick him up more than I need to get on him.
“He’s still learning that he doesn’t need to put the weight of the world on his shoulders,” the coach added. “But he wants to do well. He wants to please. The whole team is like that.”
Fleisher took the loss at Maine West hard. It was a winnable game. The Giants led after one period and trailed by two points at intermission.
But then, Maine West unleashed its three-point shooting game. The Warriors made seven of their 11 threes in the second half. Julian Dones hit five from beyond the arc to end up with a game-high 23 points.
“This one is on me,” said Fleisher. “Tonight’s game might have turned out differently, if we would’ve done a better job of communicating. We needed to talk more. We needed to adjust to their shooters. No one should be left wide open.
“We put a lot of focus on defense,” he added. “Good defense leads to good offense.”
Being seven games under .500 is tough.
“Coach Harris always tells us not to focus on the record,” said Fleisher. “He wants us to just play Highland Park Basketball.
“We’re just trying to get better every time we take the floor,” he added.
Notable: Hallvard Lundevall, a 2015 HP grad, has made a verbal commitment to play basketball and football at Division III Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Lundevall (6-4, 185) currently is enrolled at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He played club basketball for Fundamental U. … David Sachs has appeared in 11 of 13 games for Division II Barry University (13-2) in Florida. The freshman point guard (6-1, 180), a three-year all-league selection for the Giants, is averaging 5.7 minutes per game. He’s 4-for-11 from three-point range.