By Paul Bowker
MaxPreps.com
The Waukegan boys basketball team is no longer unbeaten.
Neither is Leo's.
And what in the world is going on with Whitney Young High School, considered to be Chicago’s most athletic and talented team? The Dolphins have already lost five games.
Welcome to Chicago hoops during the holidays, when tournaments in and around the city produce stunning upsets, surprises and new stars.
Emerging from the pack is Thornton, which has won 11 of 12 games, and Curie, whose sophomore sensation, forward Wayne Blackshear, is already seen as the city’s blockbuster recruit in the class of 2011. A 6-foot-5 small forward, Blackshear already has offers from Illinois and Texas. Other interested schools include national champion Kansas, Kentucky and Purdue. Stay tuned to see who wins that battle.
Blackshear scored 16 points, including a thunderous dunk as the game-ending buzzer sounded, in Curie’s 52-47 victory over Simeon on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the Pontiac tournament. It was almost a historic triumph for Curie, since Simeon had won the last three Pontiac tournaments and hadn’t lost to Curie in years.
“I’ve never beat Simeon,” said Curie coach Mike Oliver, who has been Curie’s coach for 17 years.
However, Curie’s celebration lasted less than 24 hours. Blackshear had a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) in Curie’s semifinal-round game Wednesday against Warren, but the Condors (7-3) lost, 51-48.
While Simeon (3-6) and Young falter, Thornton continued to impressively rise in the city rankings by winning close games. A basket by Reggie Smith with three seconds left in overtime Tuesday gave the Wildcats a 73-71 win over Rich East in the championship game of the Big Dipper Tournament played at Rich South, in Chicago’s far south suburbs.
They defeated Homewood-Flossmoor in the same fashion at the Hillcrest Shootout and knocked off Simeon in two overtimes at the Public League Shootout.
The Wildcats overcame a nine-point deficit to beat Rich East.
The early season path of Young High School, with a lineup that includes Iowa State recruit Chris Colvin and Marcus Jordan, son of Michael Jordan, is certainly puzzling. The Dolphins (10-5) won two of three games in the highly regarded Iolani Prep Classic in Hawaii, defeated LeBron James' old school, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, and blasted Homewood-Flossmoor by 30 points after declaring they'd play more as a team.
But in the semifinals of the Proviso West tournament Monday night, Young lost 77-57 to Morton, leaving the Dolphins relegated to the consolation bracket.
In part, blame the Dolphins‘ poor 3-point shooting. They made just 2-of-18 3-pointers. An even bigger surprise: the Dolphins, certainly the most athletic team in the city, had 18 shots blocked by Morton.
The next day, Young did win the third-place game, edging Zion-Benton, 56-54. Franklin Griffin scored the game-winning basket on a layup with 2 seconds to go. Colvin scored 19 points and had five assists.
The Dolphins head into city league play next week, Tuesday at Marshall and Thursday at home against Orr. Young has already played games in four different states, and has games scheduled for Massachusetts, New Jersey and California before the season is out, not to mention a little something called the Illinois basketball championships which will conclude in March at Peoria.
Knocked from the Unbeaten
Leo won its first 12 games, but then came the Big Dipper Tournament and double doses of teams from the south suburbs. The Lions lost 77-67 to Rich East in the semifinals Monday, then 68-64 to host Rich South in the consolation game.
In the third-place game, Rich South’s Kendrick Morse, who is being recruited by Eastern Illinois and several other mid-majors, scored 31 points.
Waukegan, which had won its first nine games, was knocked off 62-61 by Plainfield North (12-1) in the quarterfinals of the Pontiac Tournament on Tuesday. Waukegan was up by two points, but Plainfield North’s Chris McMath completed a three-point play (layup and free throw) with no time remaining.
The next day, both Waukegan and Plainfield North lost. Go figure. Waukegan was topped by Peoria Manual, 71-65, and Plainfield North lost just its second game of the season, 50-48, to Schaumburg.
In the Schaumburg game, fans may have seen THE performance of the holidays. Senior guard Cully Payne, an Alabama recruit, scores 27 points and assisted on five other baskets. His 3-point shot from 25 feet out with six seconds left won the game.
“It was the kind of shot where either you are going to be the hero, or you are not gonna be the hero,” Payne told the Chicago Sun-Times.
More Holiday Hoops
The final three rounds of the CPS Holiday Classic will be played Saturday and Sunday at DePaul University. The field includes Curie and Simeon, which would meet in Sunday night’s championship game if both teams won out on Friday and Saturday.
The tournament has 16 city teams, and was to begin Friday with eight first-round games at Attack Athletics on Chicago’s west side, the site of many of president-elect Barack Obama’s pick-up hoop games.
The quarterfinals will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday at DePaul, with the semifinals and finals to be played Sunday.
Girls’ Basketball: T.F. North Wins 18th Straight
Thornton Fractional North‘s girls‘ team is on an impressive run that has seen the Meteors win 18 consecutive games.
Karisma Chapman, a junior, scored a game-high 24 points in T.F. North‘s 68-59 win over Lincoln-Way East in the championship game of the Lincoln-Way East Medieval Classic on Tuesday.
The Meteors also won the Oak Lawn Tournament during Christmas week.
Fenwick improved to 12-2 by capturing its fifth consecutive Dundee-Crown Charger Classic title, defeating New Trier, 61-53 in the championship game.
“It‘s a big accomplishment to win here because there are a lot of good teams,” Fenwick junior Tricia Liston told the Chicago Tribune.
Paul Bowker covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at
