Chicago Public League title game will have new look and feel as upstarts North Lawndale and Hyde Park meet Sunday; Thornton rolling with 22 straight wins.
By Paul D. Bowker
MaxPreps.com
This is not your daddy’s Public League championship.
Or even your granddaddy’s.
When North Lawndale and Hyde Park meet in Chicago’s Public League title game Sunday at the University of Illinois-Chicago, it’ll be a match-up never seen before in the city’s biggest prep game of the year. North Lawndale has never played for the city championship; Hyde Park last played in the game in 1956, and lost.
Both teams certainly earned their way.
North Lawndale (23-5), ranked No. 2 in Illinois by MaxPreps, knocked off Whitney Young, 66-57, in the semifinals Wednesday, avenging an earlier loss to the Dolphins. Hyde Park (23-3), ranked No. 11, destroyed Foreman, 64-44.
For North Lawndale, a sectional No. 1 seed in the Class 3A tournament, it will be a second consecutive game against a 4A power. The Phoenix defeated Hyde Park 70-57 in early January.
In the win over Young, senior forward John Taylor scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter. Taylor is yet uncommitted to a college, though Connecticut and Penn State are among those showing interest.
“We have something to prove,” Taylor told the Chicago Sun-Times. “We are good and we are hungry. A lot of people think we aren’t.”
“Going to the championship game and beating our rival has us very excited and the whole school very excited,” North Lawndale coach Lewis Thorpe said.
Despite the loss, No. 6-ranked Young will enter the Class 4A tournament as a No. 1 seed in the Berwyn-Cicero Morton sectional. The 21-team sectional is loaded with strong Chicago teams, including seventh-ranked and No. 2 sectional seed De La Salle, which defeated North Lawndale one week ago in a non-league game. Foreman is the No. 5 seed in the sectional.
Marcus Jordan, also uncommitted, led Young with 13 points. The son of Michael Jordan, Marcus does have an offer from Miami and interest from Illinois and Iowa.
Hyde Park guards Martel Jackson and Fabyon Harris combined for 28 points in the Indians’ win over Foreman. Jerome Moore had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Hyde Park has not lost in more than a month, winning its last 10 games. The Indians are a top seed in the Class 4A Hinsdale Central Sectional.
More Boys Basketball: 22 straight wins for No. 1 Thornton
Thornton, MaxPreps’ top-ranked team in Illinois, will put a 22-game win streak on the line Friday night when it plays Thornwood (11-11).
The Wildcats (22-1) have not lost since a season-opening 68-65 setback in November to Springfield Southeast. Among Thornton’s wins: a 74-69 triumph over Simeon in the Windy City Showdown at Chicago State. Reggie Smith leads Thornton with a 17.7 points-per-game average.
Thornton will finish its regular season Feb. 27 vs. Thornridge, then open Class 4A tournament play March 3 as the top seed in the Plainfield South Regional. The Wildcats will play Plainfield South or Lincoln-Way Central in the first round; the regional final will be March 6.
The Class 4A and 3A finals will be played March 21 at the Peoria Civic Center.
Recruiting: Brandt to Oregon State
Angus Brandt, a 6-foot-10, 210-pound center from Lake Forest Academy, verbally committed this week to Oregon State.
Brandt also had offers from Michigan, Washington State and New Mexico, according to rivals.com.
Beavers coach Craig Robinson, a former high school coach in Chicago and brother-in-law of President Barack Obama, previously signed Ahmad Starks, a guard at Whitney Young.
Girls Basketball: Another title for Bolingbrook
Make that eight consecutive regional championships for the girls basketball team at Bolingbrook High School.
The Raiders, ranked No. 2 in Illinois behind Whitney Young by MaxPreps, won a Class 4A regional it was hosting Thursday night, defeating Naperville Central, 76-35. Not much question there.
Freshman forward Morgan Tuck scored a game-high 20 points. A 25-0 Bolingbrook run from the last part of the first half through the first few minutes of the second half destroyed Central’s upset hopes.
Bolingbrook (20-4), which has finished runner-up in the state tournament the last two years, will face Benet Academy in a Waubonsie Valley Sectional game on Monday. The Raiders blasted Benet by 25 points earlier this season.
While Bolingbrook has lost four games this season, none of them were to an Illinois school. A 54-45 loser to Whitney Young in the state final last year, the Raiders could be on a collision course with the Dolphins again. If both teams kept winning, they would meet in the state final. One huge obstacle for Bolingbrook is a possible meeting with once-beaten Wheeling in the semifinals March 6.
Young (29-1), ranked No. 13 nationally, had little trouble in its regional final Thursday, disposing of Lyons Township, 80-28. Mariah King led the Dolphins with 13 points.
Wheeling (27-1), ranked No. 3 in Illinois, will play Round Lake in the Wheeling Regional on Friday.
Girls Basketball Notes
Katie Yohn of St. Edward scored 26 points in a 60-45 Class 2A sectional win over Chicago Christian on Monday, allowing her to break the school record for career points. Yoyn has 1,790 points. … Driscoll ran its record to 30-1 with a 47-23 win over Timothy Christian in the Class 2A Lisle Sectional final. Junior center Courtney Lindfors scored 12 points and had 8 rebounds. … New Trier brought defense to a new level in its Class 4A regional final, holding Maine South to six points in the entire second half of a 50-19 victory. Only one Maine South player scored more than two points.
Wrestling: Morrison, Munster chase state titles
Jon Morrison of Sandburg and Lee Munster of Grant will try to win their second consecutive state championships in wrestling this weekend at Champaign, Ill.
Morrison, who has won 129 matches and lost just three over the last three years, is wrestling at 125 pounds this year after going 43-0 as a 119-pounder in 2008. Munster has won 41 straight matches.
The state wrestling championships are Friday and Saturday at the University of Illinois’ Assembly Hall.
Suspensions: 43 penalized at York
An underage drinking party in Elmhurst resulted in 43 York High School athletes being suspended from winter and spring sports teams, York athletic director Rob Wagner told the Chicago Tribune.
The party took place on New Year’s Eve.
Each of the athletes are being suspended for 20 percent of his/her athletic events,
according to the school’s code of conduct.
Paul Bowker covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com
