The day after St. Joseph High School boys basketball head coach Gene Pingatore earned his state-record 827th career victory with a 49-26 win over Carmel Catholic, the Chargers gave their coach a bonus.
In the High School Hoops Showdown at Hoffman Estates, St. Joseph knocked off North Lawndale, Chicago‘s top-ranked team at the time.
Friday night, North Lawndale gets a rematch against St. Joseph in a Class 3A sectional final at Riverside-Brookfield. The Phoenix went on from its previous loss to St. Joseph and won the Chicago Public League championship. North Lawndale has won 27 games, but lose Friday, and its done for the year. St. Joseph is MaxPreps.com's No. 1-ranked team in Illinois.
Come up with your own dramatics, but this is a big game for both teams.
“North Lawndale will be looking to do some head-hunting,” St. Joseph guard Nate Rogers told the Chicago Tribune. “They want to get us back for beating them.”
The Phoenix (27-5) are on a roll. It has won 11 of its last 12 games since the loss to St. Joseph and is ranked No. 4 in Illinois by MaxPreps. Jonathan Mills and Jermaine Winfield are among North Lawndale‘s offensive stars. The Phoenix‘s city championship, in which it beat Class 4A teams in the finals and semifinals, was the school‘s first.
But St. Joseph‘s stock is even higher. The Chargers are ranked No. 1 in the state and went through the East Suburban Catholic League unbeaten. They‘ve won 17 consecutive games and drilled Marshall by 20 points in the sectionals earlier this week.
If the Chargers defeat North Lawndale a second time, they‘ll wind up back at Hoffman Estates in the Sears Centre next week to play North Chicago or Grayslake in the Supersectional and a chance to grab one of the Final Four spots for next weekend‘s state tournament at Peoria.
Class 4A: Regional finals
Whitney Young (22-9) faces a big challenge in its regional final Friday night against De La Salle (21-4), but perhaps a bigger challenge is just having its best starters on the floor.
Marcus Jordan, the son of former Bulls great Michael Jordan and a senior, wound up in a hospital this week with a viral condition. Guard Ahmad Starks, who broke his wrist a couple of weeks ago, somehow is going to try to play with the wrist not yet full recovered. Junior guard Anthony Johnson hurt his ankle in Tuesday‘s regional semifinal win over Morton.
Marcus Jordan, Whitney Young
File Photo By Kevin Yen
If Young can win Friday, it would meet Hyde Park (26-4) or Simeon (18-9) in the super sectionals next week at Chicago State University. Hyde Park is trying to get into the state‘s Final Four after losing the city championship game to North Lawndale.
Simeon‘s Jeremy Jones is one of the best outside shooters in the city, but Hyde Park‘s powerful frontcourt will be difficult to beat.
Lincoln-Way North Regional: Thornton (27-1) has lost to only Whitney Young this season. Upset-minded Marian Catholic (16-13) stands in the way of a spot in the super sectionals.
Oswego Regional: Nequa Valley has lost just once in 31 games, but Friday they go up against a strong Naperville Central (27-2) team led by Northwestern University recruit Drew Crawford.
Class 2A: Final Four
Hot off a 28-point win over Princeton in the super sectionals, unbeaten Winnebago will go after its 32nd straight win in the 2A semifinals against Seton (29-2) on Friday night at Peoria.
The winner advances to Saturday‘s 8:15 p.m. title game against either Marshall (also 31-0) or Metropolis Masaac County (32-1).
Seton is in the Final Four for the first time in school history. No athletic team at Seton has ever won a state championship.
Winnebago‘s lineup includes 6-foot-7 junior forward Chas Cross, who averages a double-double: 16.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.
Class 1A Final Four
Semifinals: Woodlawn (29-1) vs. Lewistown (25-7); Macon Meridian (29-2) vs. Anna wan (27-6).
The winners will play in the title game at 12:45 p.m. Saturday. All games will be played at Peoria.
Lindo retires from Naperville North
Mark Lindo, who won more than 400 games in his coaching career at Naperville North and Aurora Central Catholic, announced Thursday he was retiring as coach of Naperville North.
He will remain as assistant baseball coach and a teacher.
Naperville North last won a sectional championship in 1998.
“The self-imposed stress of the job, as well as the never-ending season of varsity basketball, have led me to focus more on my family and my personal health,“ Lindo said in a statement.
Lindo was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame last year.
Girls Basketball: Bolingbrook celebrates title
Bolingbrook’s Class 4A title win last weekend couldn’t have been sweeter.
The Raiders (25-4), who lost to Chicago’s Whitney Young in the championship game last year, knocked off the Dolphins 53-29 at Redbird Arena in Normal, Ill. It was just the second loss all season for Young (32-2), which had been ranked No. 10 nationally but dropped to No. 13.
The victory boosted Bolingbrook to No. 5 in MaxPreps.com's national rankings.
Morgan Tuck, a freshman, scored 12 points in the first quarter when Bolingbrook took control, and wound up with 17 points and 8 rebounds.
“She is a phenom,“ Bolingbrook coach Tony Smith told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I’ve never coached one like that, but it sure is fun.“
Bolingbrook’s victory halted Young‘s win streak at 26. The Dolphins had not lost in Illinois all season and in fact had not lost in Illinois since last year‘s Chicago Public League tournament. They had blasted Geneva by 21 points in the semifinals one day before losing to Bolingbrook.
The title game finished off a historic career for Bolingbrook‘s Satavia Taylor, who is the only girl in Illinois history to play in the state championship game all four years. The Raiders won twice, this year and in Taylor‘s freshman season.
Class 3A: Peoria Richwoods left no doubt about its domination of 3A with a 56-19 title game victory over Freeport. Richwoods defeated Chicago Marshall by 15 points in the semifinals.
Academics: All-State Team announced
Twenty-five students were named to the 2008-09 Illinois High School Association’s All-State Academic Team. The awards are sponsored by Caterpillar. Student-athletes needed to have a grade-point average of at least 3.5 to qualify.
The honorees:
Alex Albanese, Huntley; Therese Barry, Elgin St. Edward; Erica Bramlet, Mt. Carmel; Mary Buzzard, Rockford Lutheran; John Curran, Bloomington Central Catholic; Sarah Daly, Wheaton Academy; Kurt Fowler, Williamsville; Emilee Hargis, Highland; Brock Kabat, Waltonville; Britt McMahon, Rockton Hononegah; Alejandro Montoya, Elmwood; Daniel Moore, Chicago St. Rita; Graham Morris, Lawrenceville; Heather Olson, Gurnee Warren; Chelsey Probst, Newton; Caitlin Reynolds, Springfield Lutheran; Samantha Rubright, Bensenville Fenton; Scott Schmeling, Belvidere North; Jennifer Schnack, Barrington; Sacora Shern, Chicago Robeson; SivaKumar Sundaram, Rockford Auburn; Cassandra Thomson, Neuqua Valley; Kevin Wolz, Palos Hills Stagg; Henry Wood, Lincolnshire Stevenson; Henry Yan, Lisle; Justin Yu, Barrington.
Paul Bowker covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at
bowkerpaul1@aol.com
