COMING UP*
Simeon (Chicago),
ranked No. 5 nationally by MaxPreps, and Chicago Perspectives will be among the boys basketball teams at the Flyin' to the Hoop tournament this weekend at Trent Arena in Kettering, Ohio, just outside of Dayton. Simeon will meet Dunbar, Ohio, ranked No. 1 in the Ohio Associated Press poll, at 8:15 p.m. Sunday. Perspectives and Kentucky recruit Anthony Davis will take on Meadowdale, Ohio, at 7 p.m. Saturday. Both games will be televised by ESPNU.
* Bolingbrook High School is hosting a "Pack the Place" event Friday, in which both the boys basketball team and nationally ranked girls team will play games. The girls will play
Joliet West at 5:30 p.m., followed by the boys facing
Homewood-Flossmoor (Flossmoor) at 7.
STORYLINES AROUND CHICAGOLAND:* In addition to Naperville Neuqua Valley's boys basketball team dropping from the ranks of the unbeaten in its loss to East Aurora, the Chicago De La Salle boys also lost after 12 straight wins, the Thornton boys lost after 13 straight victories and Wauconda's girls team lost after 15 straight wins. A basket by Oak Park Fenwick's
Tim Gancer with 15 seconds left sent De La Salle down, 49-48, in a Chicago Catholic League battle. North Lawndale's
Deangelo Thigpen's hoop with two seconds left sank Thornton, 55-53, in the T.F. North Hambric Shootout. In Stevenson's stunning 51-30 win over Wauconda,
Michelle O'Brien scored 19 points, including five 3-pointers.
* Oh, there‘s nothing like the world of Chicago politics to bring a big name out to a high school basketball game. Rahm Emanuel, a former Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama's White House staff and one of the leading candidates to replace William M. Daley as mayor of Chicago, took in a night of hoops at Chicago St. Ignatius. He watched University of Illinois recruit
Nnanna Egwu score 23 points in a 58-40 win over St. Rita.
* The much anticipated boys basketball game between defending Illinois Class 4A champion
Simeon (Chicago) and
Morgan Park (Chicago) has been postponed from Thursday until Jan. 22. The game was to be played at Morgan Park, but because of a large expected fan turnout, the showdown might be played at Chicago State University.
* John Maniatis, the girls basketball coach at
Hillcrest (Country Club Hills), won his 400th career game, when the Hawks defeated Eisenhower, 86-41. In his 17th season, Maniatis is 400-84 and coached the Hawks to a Class 3A finals appearance last year. "It‘s a testament to all the players, coaches and the educational staff here," Maniatis told Sun-Times Media.
Paul Bowker, an online and newspaper sports journalist for 25 years and the author of two Major League Baseball books, covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com.
