By Paul D. Bowker
MaxPreps.com
Strahinja Nikolic will never forget the frantic call one December evening from his sister, Katarina.
“Just get home as fast as you can.”
The icy and foggy roads of rural western Oklahoma were about to change Nikolic’s life.
And not in a pleasant way for the Maine South High School basketball star.
Aleksandar Nikolic, Strahinja’s father, a trucker and a big Maine South Hawks basketball fan, was driving a truck that became involved in a collision on Interstate-40 near Sayre, Okla., just 20 miles or so from the Texas border. One trucker, two trucks in front of Nikolic, spun out. What followed was a chain-reaction accident, and Aleksandar Nikolic had no chance.
The lights of emergency vehicles lit up the highway, ambulances and that terrible phone call.
“We first heard he was in critical condition and he was in the hospital,” Strahinja Nikolic said. “So we were kind of like, hoping, praying, you know?”
News of the worst kind soon followed.
“An hour later, we heard he couldn’t make it through,” Strahinja said.
In less than two hours, Strahinja had gone from enjoying a pasta party with his high school friends to losing a dad who was always in those stands at Maine South when he wasn’t trucking down an interstate highway someplace.
But what happened in the next 24 hours, and even after that, is nothing short of remarkable. The next day, a Friday, Strahinja texted Maine South basketball coach Tony Lavorato Jr. If Lavorato wasn’t stunned enough by one of his players suddenly losing his father one week before Christmas, then imagine Strahinja in the same text message stating that he wanted to play in Friday night’s game.
Lavorato immediately drove over to Strahinja’s home.
“As a young man who lost his father, telling me he wants to play, I needed to see him face to face,” Lavorato said. “I was very concerned for him, not about the team.”
Strahinja knew one thing. His dad, a native of Serbia, wanted him to play. And there was never a doubt about that in his mind.
“My dad was a big sports guy. Right when it happened, I knew I wanted to stay with the team no matter what,” Strahinja Nikolic said. “For me to come out and play with my guys, they respect that. They need me to be out here on the floor with them. And that’s what my dad would have wanted personally.
“He’s a big sports guy, basketball and soccer player. I’m sure if something happened to him like that, he would have been out there.”
Strahinja had another request of his coach: His father’s death was not to be told to the team before the game. A couple of Strahinja’s friends, including his girlfriend, knew about Aleksandar. They stayed at the Nikolic house to comfort Strahinja and other family members.
“We didn’t tell the team,” Lavorato said. “He didn‘t want it to be a distraction, that was his choice.”
Still, as Maine South played Glenbrook South that night, an emotional fire was burning.
A buzz grew through the crowd as news of the death began to pass from one Maine South parent to another. Strahinja’s sister and uncle were at the game.
“I had my own little fan section, they were all there for me,” Strahinja said. “All my closest friends, they were there for me. During the game, I looked up and they actually saw me pointing to the crowd. Half of them were breaking down out there.
“I knew they had my side. I’m never going to forget that.”
At a time of sadness, the crowd is exactly what warmed Strahinja’s heart.
“As the game went on, I knew I was playing for more than my dad. I was playing for the crowd and my family and everything else,” he said.
And what happened at the end of that game was pure Hollywood tear-jerker. Maine South was two points down, 7.5 seconds left. Lavorato calls a timeout, then calls a play for Strahinja. The Hawks get the ball to him, and Nikolic drills a 3-point shot just before the game-ending buzzer sounded. Maine South wins, 56-55.
“That last-second shot was just a miracle. I don’t even know how to explain it,” Nikolic said.
Maine South’s fans rushed the court to celebrate the game-winning shot. Lavorato still gets emotional over remembering that moment.
“The crowd rushes the floor, tackles him. It was, as a basketball coach, you feel so happy for the kid. It doesn’t bring back his father, but his father was watching and would have been very proud of his performance,” Lavorato said.
“One of the most unbelievable things I’ve ever seen as a coach.”
The rest of the team was told about Aleksandar Nikolic’s death after the game.
“There were tears and hugs,” Lavorato said. “It was tough emotionally for everybody. I’m an adult, and I struggled with it. Being a 17-year-old kid to handle that type of pressure, and be able to use it as a release, is a credit to him.”
Strahinja was not able to attend his dad’s funeral because it was held in Serbia. The wake was held in Park Ridge. And Nikolic went on to help the Hawks knock off New Trier in overtime, 65-62, scoring nine points in OT. But the memories of that terrible night in Oklahoma, and the memory of winning a game the next night as an emotional release, won’t soon pass.
“I broke down at the end of the game with the coach,” Strahinja said. “Trying to hold it in, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t help it, really.”
More Boys Basketball: Showdown before the showdown
North Lawndale, the No. 2-ranked team in MaxPreps’ Illinois rankings, will play St. Joseph in the Hoops Showdown on Saturday at The Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, but there is a bigger piece of business before that.
The Phoenix, atop Chicago’s city rankings, will face No. 5-ranked Whitney Young on Friday night.
Young (14-5) won its sixth consecutive Red-West game Tuesday, 55-50 over Crane Technical. But that win did not come easily for the Dolphins, as senior guard Chris Colvin (an Iowa State recruit) and Marcus Jordan, both nursing hand injuries, entered the game in the third quarter to save the day.
North Lawndale (13-2) has won its last five games and won the CPS holiday tournament championship last week.
Also Friday night, St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore will go for a state-record 827th victory when St. Joseph (12-3) plays an East Suburban Catholic game at Carmel.
The North Lawndale-St. Joseph battle will be the third of three games in the Hoops Showdown. Conant (10-5) will play Barrington (3-14) in a Mid-Suburban game and Schaumburg (14-2), ranked No. 8 by MaxPreps, will meet Jacobs (13-2). Alabama recruit Cully Payne is a point guard for Schaumburg. Jacobs is unranked, but has won its last 11 games.
Notables…
Top-ranked Thornton (13-1), which has won 13 consecutive games since a season-opening loss to Springfield Southeast, will play Crane Tech at 8:30 p.m. Saturday in the MLK Dream Classic at Whitney Young High School. Eight games will be played Saturday on two courts, beginning at 2:15 p.m. … North Grand had a double double-double in a 71-53 win over Amundsen. Abraham Zamont had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Andrew Quinones had 15 points and 10 assists. … Curie sophomore Wayne Blackshear, who is putting up big numbers all over the city, scored 28 points and had 16 rebounds in a 58-55 victory over Hope. … Hyde Park’s Malcolm Griffin scored 17 points, and had 8 rebounds and 7 assists in a 64-49 Red-Central win over Dunbar.
Girls Basketball: No. 1 Young faces No. 3 Wheeling
Whitney Young and Wheeling will bring a combined record of least 38-1 into the final game of the 19th annual McDonald’s Shootout on Monday night at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park.
The Dolphins (19-1), ranked No. 1 in Illinois and No. 24 nationally by MaxPreps, destroyed Crane Tech 74-35 and North Lawndale 62-12 in the past week. They play Marshall on Friday.
No. 3-ranked Wheeling (20-0) defeated Mid-Suburban East foe Hersey 56-36 last Saturday, as Janelle Cannon scored 23 points and Bianca Szafarowicz scored 19. The Wildcats have held their opponents under 40 points in 13 of 20 games.
The tournament, which will be played Friday, Saturday and Monday at Willowbrook, features the top seven ranked teams in Illinois and two Top 10 teams from Indiana. No. 2-ranked Bolingbrook (11-3) will play South Bend Washington (16-0), ranked No. 4 in Indiana, at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Washington’s lineup includes point guard Skylar Diggins, a Notre Dame signee.
Saturday’s 7 p.m. game matches up teams ranked No. 7 in their respective states: Defending Indiana 4A champion Carmel (11-2) and Fenwick (14-3), of Oak Park in suburban Chicago.
More Girls Basketball: Finally … at home
After playing its first 13 games on the road, East Aurora will finally get a home game Saturday when it plays host to St. Charles North. The Tomcats are 6-7.
“You can see where your team is as far as not playing at home, dealing with adversity, being out of your element, and how are you going to be able to compete?“ East Aurora coach William Anderson told the Sun-Times Group. “To be quite honest with you, it’s really building our character. I truly believe we have something special“
Notables….
No. 12 Thornton Fractional North ran its record to 19-1 by holding Crete-Monee to eight points in a 43-point victory Tuesday. … Taylor Whitley scored 22 points in Geneva’s 18th consecutive win, 57-19 over Kaneland. … Taft’s Satavia Taylor has scored at least 40 points in four consecutive games, including 43 in Tuesday‘s 84-57 win over Roosevelt.
Recruiting: Notre Dame recruit has thumb surgery
Jack Cooley, a Notre Dame basketball signee from Glenbrook South, underwent thumb surgery Thursday in Evanston. He is hoping to return before the end of the current season. The surgery was scheduled to repair ligament damage.
Cooley, a 6-foot-8 center/power forward, is averaging 23 points and 14 rebounds per game.
Paul Bowker covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com