A packed house at Chicago State saw Simeon run past Orr 62-57. A contest billed as a showdown between South Side vs West Side bragging rights. Talen Horton-Tucker finished with 23 points and 9 rebounds, and Kejuan Clements tallied 18 points. While Orr's Chase Adams recorded 16 points, Dannie Smith 15, and Raekwon Drake had 13. The game had to have some controversy with officiating as we've often witnessed this season. Fairly good Championship game, now both teams can re-connect and prepare for a State Playoff run.
Up in Dekalb for a Saturday afternoon matinee watching Mac Conference Schools Northern Illinois - Western Michigan square off in their annual competitive clash. NIU won the contest which featured a duel between two of the Conferences better guards in senior- Thomas Wilder and the Huskies sophomore wizard- Eugene German. This was a good win for Mark Montgomery and the NIU Program. Western Michigan does a good job recruiting in the Chicago area and carries 4 area players on their roster. Historically, they seen to always have Chicago guys on their teams dating back to the 70s.
Whitney Young defeated Morgan Park in a quarter Final match-up earlier in the week when senior forward Jake Kosakowski nailed a 3pointer at the buzzer, giving Young a 69-66 victory. Watching both proud Programs perform, we came away with a really good read on several notable players for both teams. Javon Freeman heading to Valpo should be penciled in as a dynamite all League performer before his days end in the Missouri Valley League. Now, Xavier Castaneda headed to South Florida might have to re-tool some areas of his game to thrive in that competitive League. Castaneda being from Chicago, we expect his competitive nature to rise above certain challenges that could await. 6-2 Sophomore Tyler Beard for Young looks to have a promising future. He is explosive in the open floor and dangerous off the dribble, he reminds me of some players we used to have around here years ago. Morgan Park which bolsters Illinois recruit Ayo Dosunmu and talented sophomore spot-up shooter Adam Miller and fellow second year guard Marcus Watson who is touted to be a terrific general, played well. It just wasn't enough to derail the home team. Morgan Park's two other seniors Cam Burrell, a 6-4 athlete with a good motor often show signs of being a low division one recruit and Kenyon Duling, an offensive threat anytime he's on the floor, measures in as a burly 6-3 specimen, should garner attention from low majors and division 2s. This was a pretty good ball game to take in.
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