REAL FACTS

REAL FACTS

My collegiate cronies have been scurrying to the Central Illinois area to get a whiff of a sudden emerging hot-shot Matt Chastain a 6-6 athletic forward who plays against green division type competition nightly.  “A prime example of how effective social media and tweeting can send you down a winding dark road in a major way.”  Blowing-up prospects who aren’t a match for certain leagues and programs.  How many times have we viewed this picture?  Our area schools continue to suffer from these tactics, latching on to players who can’t compete night in & night out.  Chastain’s Leroy H.S. team will play in the 1A state tournament on Friday, we will see what his profile looks like!  Utah & Utah State have offered, mind boggling.  DePaul, Drake, Loyola, Valpo were in Leroy, IL last week.

St. Joseph 68 – Chicago North-Lawndale 67

(Wed – March 9^th – Westinghouse Sectional)

In a thrilling finish, St. Joe was able to hold-off a climatic last minute flurry by North-Lawndale.  Surviving this test will grant them their wish of a rematch in the sectional final Friday versus Catholic League foe Fenwick who easily handled them in league tournament final a few weeks ago (Sat., Feb 20^th) 73-51.  North-Lawndale, a talented squad that plays at times in a frantic rush that happens to be their worst enemy plagued by costly mistakes.  N.L.’s slow start enabled St. Joes to storm out to a 13-1 advantage, the opening quarter ended with St. Joes up 21-11 & 37-24 by the half.  The Phoenix from the nearby west-side of Chicago was able to claw back in the opening of the second half with a 10-0 run closing the gap to 37-34.  This game for them would be hard to pull-out due to reckless possessions and defensive lapses.  St. Joe’s freshman Marquise Walker converted 2 foul shots with 13.6 remaining to seal this one.  Never-the-less it was an entertaining ball game for a full-house to remember.  Nick Rakocevic was an impact performer, the unsigned senior collected 16 points – 15 boards and several timely rejections.  Sophomore guard Ahmad Muhammad flourished through-out most of the night tallied 15, and Joffari Brown had (13).  Junior tandem Martrell Barnes and Carlos Hines led North-Lawndale with 16 points and 13 respectively.  This is St. Joe’s coach Gene Pingatore’s 47^th season, he and his staff will have their hands full with Fenwick, but anything can happen.  St. Joes has a nice mix of young talent.  The Phoenix finish the season (22-8).

Springfield Lanfield 68 – Champaign Central 61

(Wed., March 9^th – Taylorville, IL)

UMKC recruit Xavier Bishop scored thirteen first quarter points to propel Lanphier to an early start, eliminating Central before a full house in Taylorville.  The Maroons were able to cut it to one going into the fourth 46-45, but then Lanphier went on a 7-0 run and the Maroons were unable to recover.  Lanphier will enter Friday’s sectional final against rival Springfield Southeast who have defeated them twice this season.  Taylorville High-School already expects a sold-out crowd.  Lanphier received 62 points from the trio of Bishop (26), sophomore combo Cardell McGee (20) and junior guard Yaakema Rose (16).  Maroon’s finished the season at a 17-12 mark, they were led by sophomore wiz Tim Finke with 14 points and 7 rebounds, but he finished with a chilling 6-21 from the field.  His older brother Nick Finke recorded 15 points & 7 boards as well.  Highly touted second year point guard Bailey Dee had 13.

Peoria Manuel 58 – Metamora 43

(Wed., March 9^th at Bradley University – Renaissance Coliseum)

For the second consecutive year Manual will head to the sectional final, this time around they will take-on a sizzling Bloomington H.S. team whom they shared the Big 12 Conference title with.  Bradley recruit Nate Kennel’s early foul trouble allowed the Rams to control the tempo for most of the opening half.  The spirited play of senior Dallas Morgan helped Metamora stay within striking distance while Kennell was saddled with fouls.  Morgan, the games high-scorer recorded a monster outing with 22 points and 10 rebounds before an estimated crowd of 4,000.  Manual was able to build a fourteen point cushion at the four minute mark to push away from the Red-Birds who had a fantastic season 26-3.  The Rams received 18 markers from newly Illini recruit Da’Monte Williams and 17 from fellow junior sharp shooter A.J. Youngman.

Thornton 62 – Crete-Monee 46

(Wed., March 9^th – Chicago Heights, Bloom H.S.)

This contest ended early with 59 seconds remaining because of a potential scrap between Thornton and Crete’s fans that reached the court.  This over-shadowed a dominating performance by the Thornton squad who will take-on No. 1 Simeon on Friday.  Expect a standing room only audience at this marquee tilt in the Heights.  Crete wrapped-up the season (20-9), was never able to get un-tracked from the onset due to Thornton’s smothering pressure.

Fenwick 72 – Chicago Farragut 60

(Tues., March 8^th – Westinghouse Sectional)

This was labeled from the onset as a big-time game, unfortunately it never materialized.  The final score was no indication that this contest was remotely close.  Fenwick sprinted-out to a 21-10 first quarter lead behind 10 opening period points from Mike Ballard and was never in any form of a threat through-out the game.  Farragut’s highly viewed senior guard Dulan Scott started the game with a series of unusual miscues that contributed to the Admirals slow start, not to mention defensively they were in shambles.  The Admiral’s 8-2 run right before half made it interesting 34-24 which pretty much sized-up the evening.  The Rick Malnati clan is a well-oiled group offensively and defensively, they do a nice job of shutting-down driving lanes, and do a wonderful job of coverage on the perimeter.  Fenwick looks to be on a smooth path to Peoria where they could possibly encounter 3A favorite Belleville Althoff who seems to be running up the score on opponents in a display of show-time basketball.  To beat Fenwick – you gonna need a hot shooting night and stellar guard play.  Mike Smith one of the top point-guards in the state and arguably the No. 1 unsigned senior is clever enough to dismantle most defensive gimmicks.  His ten 4^th quarter points finished off the Admirals.  He wrapped-up the game with 22 & a dozen assists.  Farragut’s Kawanise Wilkins (21) is an under-rated scorer & leader, the 6-3 junior has a bright future – freshman guard Aaron Strong (11) nailed three 3’s, he’s going to be awfully good.  The Admirals just weren’t disciplined enough to pull this one out.  Scott had 10, but nothing could diminish the season he had.