More 2015 Showcase

More 2015 Showcase

North-Side Lincoln Park will always hold a special place in my heart, they have a new direction in the arrival of enthusiastic head-coach Pat Gordon who was a one-time assistant at the Lincoln Park where he witnessed the glory days when they regularly produced Division One talent.

The Lions were competitive at the 2 day event, mustering up 5 games, winning two, while dropping a couple of close ones.  The team featured a cast of Ibrahim Dosunmu a 6-6 senior and a small college gem, junior silky-smooth Alec Brent, super quick junior point-guard Marco Lewis 6-4, junior scorer Bryce McGill and promising sophomore guard Julius Francellino and the powerful lefty Jalen Louie now a senior, this line-up gives Gordon something to build on.  Von Steuben another Red North Division foe performed well on Saturday, the Panthers only played 3 games but in all honesty the group was likely looking ahead to their Whitney Young fall opener in the more camaraderie environment.

Von Steuben got heated over some officiating issues particularly in their close game versus De LaSalle when they lost a double digit lead in the second half.  Junior guard Rafael Cruz was dynamite, he nabbed 11 pts vs Metamora, 25 in a victory over Lake Park 37-28 and finished with 11 markers in a loss to De LaSalle 50-49.  I’m hoping for nothing but wonderful things for Von’s longtime coach/GM Vince Carter who I consider my friend and one of the finer ambassadors we have for our game at the grass-roots level.  When Carter hurled some ref issues at me after the game “I’m like oh geez”, but it just goes to show no one is exempt from emotionally harboring ill feelings with officials at times.  5-10 junior guard Tyrus Jenkins played well as did fellow junior Edward Nwakego a 6 footer, part of the trio of scorers in their talented back-court.

Lake Park a perennial contender in the DuPage Conference, many local hoop diehards don’t realize the Lancer’s were a minute away from beating Geneva to advance downstate 4A.  Coach Josh Virostko consistently has his troops battle tested late in the season, that’s a mark of a good coach.  It ain’t-like-he-has-division one dudes every autumn.  His kids play hard and get better as the season progresses, we are always excited to get Josh’s Lake Park squad, he’s the 2nd call we make as we start to prepare for this event.

I’m proud to say Coach Josh Virostko is alum of the storied Illinois Warrior program many people aren’t aware of his profile, he’s from Paris (IL) was a 4 year starter for his high-school team, performed in the back-court with Morgan Park’s Nick Irvin for the Warriors powerful summer of 1996 squad that featured the likes of Melvin Ely(6-9 Fresno State), Marcus Griffin(6-9 Illinois), Sergio McClain(6-4 Illinois), Rich Beyers(6-8 Illinois/IL State), La Darryl Billingsley(6-6 Tulane), Lonnie Holland(6-5 Southern U.), Mark Veshaw(6-8 Wisconsin), Jason Jenkins(6-6 Valpo), Kevin Jones(5-9 Nebraska-Omaha), and Springfield native 6-4 Steve Dixson (one of my all-time favorites and one of the most exciting finisher we’ve seen in recent memory in Illinois).  Virostko went on to play college ball at Lewis University where he was a 3 year starter, “blah, blah, blah”.

Kenny Bogus a 6-4 senior swingman and 6-3 Bailey Vance bring senior leadership to a tough team.  Wendell Jeffries’s East Aurora team made their fourth consecutive appearance to our fall event.  His kids play hard and are well coached and I’ve valued my relationship with him, he’s managed to stay relevant since the post Ryan Boatright era.  Jeffries boasts a line-up of a trio of jet quick guards Michael Stewart a 5-11-JR, Immanuel Palmer 5-11-SR and Maurice Nichols a promising 6-1 slashing scorer he’s a junior while freshman Treavon Brown looks like he will be the next stud in the proud tradition of the East Aurora program.

The Plainfield Central team are in the reinventing stages with their program, Steve Lamberti every few years has a hidden gem that surfaces such as a Derrick Marks (2011 grad played at Boise State).  Junior guard Sedrick Brooks always looks solid as does senior Eric Davis and 6-4 veteran Justin Windt.  We are very appreciative of our friends at Plainfield Central.