High school basketball: Michael O’Brien’s notebook

The schedule this week is a bit odd. There aren’t any big games, which is fine with me, I enjoy checking out new teams and places. But nothing really caught my eye on Tuesday’s slate as much as Romeoville at Brother Rice.

The Spartans were one of the only preseason ranked teams that I hadn’t seen yet. And the Southwest Prairie vs. Catholic Leaguematchup is a rare happening.

It turned out to be a solid decision, but not for the reasons I anticipated. I’d seen Brother Rice twice over the weekend and while the Crusaders were clearly a top team, the offense didn’t flow as well as I expected. Honestly, it left me less than enthused about the team’s prospects this season. Brother Rice isn’t stacked with talent, it has several good players but to really succeed it needed to be, well, Brother Rice.

It turns out new coach Conte Stamas agreed. And he thought all along that it might take a month or so for the offense to really click. It happened tonight and I’m glad I was there to see it.

Read all about that here:

Tuesday’s top games

Niles North 77, Niles West 64: Ok, I’m glad I saw Romeoville-Brother Rice tonight but this is the other place I was considering going. And after seeing the tweets I kinda wish I had been there. Looked like a great atmosphere and and Yaris Irby scored 38 points.

Hyde Park 72, Phillips 71: This is one of those scores that says good things about both teams. The Thunderbirds continue to get it done. Jerrel Oliver is off to a really nice start. And the big three produced again. Cam Williford had 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Da’Marion Morris scored 22 and Jurrell Baldwin added 15 points and 13 rebounds. Great sign for Phillips though to play one of the best teams in the Red this close. Excited to get over there and see the team and the new gym.

St. Patrick 53, Marian Catholic 46 3 OT: Game of the night for sure, although I wonder if this was one of those games where the teams held the ball the majority of the overtimes. I wouldn’t blame them, four minute overtimes are super dumb. Sophomore EJ Breland scored 17 and junior Harper Krolak added 14. The Shamrocks are now 7-2.

Kenwood 79, Morgan Park 29: Another dominant win for the Broncos. Dai Dai Ames scored 26.

Marmion 58, Leo 28: Trevon Roots turns in a monster performance with 22 points, nine blocks and eight rebounds. Jabe Haith added 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. I’m starting to get intrigued by the Cadets. Not sure if I’ve ever covered a game at Marmion. I don’t think so.

Marist 54, Carmel 43: Another nice balanced scoring win from the RedHawks. Kaden White had 11, Keshaun Vaval 10 and Adoni Vassilakis nine points. Marist has a big showdown vs. St. Patrick on Friday.

Lindblom 75, Perspectives-Leadership 67: Lindblom’s tweet crowed about “Protecting the Nest” which is pretty cool. I wondered if the Eagles would be able to turn their strange little gym into a real home court advantage in the Red and it looks like that might be the case. Je’Shawn Stevenson scored 38 points and fellow junior Quentin McCoy added 14 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and five steals. Jakeem Cole scored 20 for the Warriors.

Evergreen Park 76, Eisenhower 74: Nolan Sexton led the Mustangs with 23 and Lonnie Mosley added 21 points. Eisenhower guard AJ Abrams scored 25.

Beecher 79, St. Anne 52: These Adyn McGinley numbers keep getting the Bobcats into the notebook. Tonight the junior had 31 points, nine rebounds and five steals.

Oswego East 43, Metea Valley 33: Joe Henricksen and I talked about the interesting DuPage Valley conference on No Shot Clock this week and this score is kind of exactly what we meant. Ok, Meta Valley didn’t win but that’s a very respectable score against one of the best teams in the entire area.

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