Simeon takes aim at holiday tournament title

Defending Illinois Class 4A boys basketball champion Simeon (Chicago) is chasing after another tournament championship this week, even if its opening-round victory over Schaumburg lacked (yawn) the power you would expect from the Wolverines.

An 18-point game Tuesday by highly-recruited sophomore forward Jabari Parker led unbeaten Simeon (6-0), ranked No. 5 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 boys basketball rankings presented by the Army National Guard, to a 56-43 win over Schaumburg in the Pontiac Holiday Tournament.

"It‘s a good thing Jabari stepped up for us," Simeon coach Robert Smith told the Chicago Sun-Times.

If the Wolverines keep winning, they would play in the title game Thursday. Then, it's on to the Chicago Public League schedule in January. A key date: On Jan. 29, Simeon meets 2009 4A finalist Chicago Whitney Young.

Simeon‘s early-season wins included an 85-38 drilling of Lew Wallace (Gary, Ind.) in the Hoops Madness Shootout, a game televised on ESPN. The Wolverines' win streak over two seasons stands at 13; they last lost to Chicago De La Salle in last season's Chicago Public League playoffs.

Simeon's lineup includes Parker, a 6-foot-6 small forward whose multiple scholarship offers already include Illinois, Duke and Kansas; sophomore guard Kendrick Nunn, who is getting interest from Purdue; and senior forward Ahman Fells, a University of Chicago recruit.

MORE BASKETBALL: PROVISO EAST KNOCKS OFF MORGAN PARK
Morgan Park's unbeaten run of five games was halted Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the Proviso West Holiday Tournament, when the Mustangs lost 68-66 to Proviso East (Maywood). The loss spoiled what had been a potential tournament title game between Morgan Park and Benet Academy. Louisville recruit Wayne Blackshear scored 31 points and had 12 rebounds, but the heroics at the end came from Proviso East‘s Paris Lee, who had a steal and basket in the final minute.

Blackshear scored 71 points in his first two games in the tournament, and his 40-point game Monday was witnessed by Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn among others packed into the gym's stands.

Northwestern recruit David Sobolewski nearly hit a triple-double for Benet in a 64-42 win Tuesday in the quarterfinals. Sobolewski scored 18 points, totaled nine assists and grabbed seven rebounds. Benet has won its first 11 games and is in the prestigious Proviso West tournament for the first time in school history.

* In the McDipper boys tournament at Rich South, Thornton (Harvey) won its 10th straight game with a 68-43 win over Marian Catholic. Antonio Levy led Thornton with 18 points.

* Snoop Viser of East (Aurora) scored 29 points and Connecticut recruit Ryan Boatright scored 25, leading the Tomcats to a 79-61 win over Oswego East — Viser‘s former school — in the 45th annual East Aurora Holiday Tournament.

* No. 1 tournament seed Maine South lost two games in the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic by a combined four points. A half-court shot as the buzzer sounded by St. Charles East's Spencer Motley sent the Hawks down on opening night, 47-44. The next day, Naperville North (3-7) defeated Maine South 56-55 in the consolation bracket.

5 BIG PERFORMANCES
* DePaul women's basketball recruit Megan Rogowski of Hersey (Arlington Heights) scored her 2,000th career point, and 29 overall, in a 58-38 victory over Waubonsie Valley in the championship game of the Neibch Falcon Classic played at Wheaton North. Rogowski also had 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. The Huskies are 11-3. Rogowski scored 42 points, tying her own school record, in a semifinal-round win over Wheaton North, and was named co-MVP of the tournament. "It's almost hard to keep track of Megan's accomplishments. She just sets record after record," Hersey coach Mary Fendley told the Chicago Sun-Times.

* Senior point guard DJ Tolliver of Farragut (Chicago) scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, and had two steals, in a 54-47 win over Chicago Crane in the championship game of the Chicago Public Schools Holiday Showcase. Tolliver was named tournament MVP. Farragut has won 10 of 11 games.

* Jim Stocki scored 15 points, leading unbeaten Neuqua Valley (Naperville) to the Elgin Holiday Tournament championship. The Wildcats defeated Elgin 56-53 in the title game. Neuqua Valley is 13-0.

* Ben Whitford, a sophomore wrestler at Marmion Academy (Aurora) who has never lost a high school match, defeated Joey Gosinski of Glenbard North 12-5 in the 130-pound final of the 23rd annual Dvorak Memorial Wrestling Invitational. Whitford, who won a Class 2A championship last year at 119 pounds, extended his unbeaten streak to 59. Goskinski, a senior, hadn't lost in two years and was the Class 3A champ at 125 pounds in 2010. Marmion won the team title in the tournament with 204.5 points, beating out 28 other squads. Johnny Jimenez, at 103 pounds, and Bryce Brill, at 135, also won titles for Marmion.

* A.J. Johnson, a punter on Oswego's football team, rolled a 300 games and scored a state-record 857 three-game series in a Southwest Prairie Conference match against Plainfield East. He rolled 33 of a possible 36 strikes. "I can't explain it. I really just try to make it one shot at a time," Johnson told the Chicago Tribune.

STORYLINES AROUND CHICAGOLAND:
* The Bartlett girls basketball team has won its first 14 games, and is within two wins of a tournament championship in the Charger Classic at Dundee-Crown High School. Jacki Gulczynski scored 13 points in Tuesday's 69-63 win over Prospect.

* Jewell Loyd of Niles West (Skokie), an undeclared junior, scored 37 points against Stevenson in the Suburban Holiday Showcase last week, and lost. In the same tournament this week, she scored 40 points and had 13 rebounds in a 57-41 win over Lake Zurich. A member of the USA Basketball U17 women's national team this past summer, Loyd is posting big numbers this season. "If there is a better player in the state, I'd like to see her. She is double- and triple-teamed, and is averaging more than 30 points a game," Niles West coach Tony Konsewicz told the Chicago Sun-Times.

* Notre Dame football recruit Davaris Daniels of Vernon Hills will take his game to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., next Wednesday, when the annual Under Armour All-American Game is played. Daniels, a wide receiver and kick returner, is the only Illinois player in the game, which will be televised by ESPN.

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.