IN SEASON

No. 5 Bloom 74 – No. 3 Thornton 57
Made the track to the Heights Tuesday night (Jan. 28th) to this prime-time game of the week. Arrived on the scene to see a packed house. Standing room only, illustrated what kind of environment we might be destined to witness. With all the pre-game skinning & grinning, the only obvious piece missing from this buzzing gymnasium was some sizzling tracks from the likes of Jay Rock (Win), DaBaby, and Travis Scott (Heavy Camp) just to name a few. Blah, blah, blah… Bloom which as a rich basketball tradition, but has often been snake-bitten, unable to pull out the big one, this trend expands to over thirty-forty years. They’ve produced ton notable players through the years, including NBA exec Jerry Colangelo, Audie Mathews (Illinois), Claude White (averaged over 40 pts a game in College), Raymond McCoy- one-time phenom Class of 1979, McDonald All-American (San Francisco), Robert McCoy, Brandon Cole (DePaul). I couldn’t hold back standing on the side-line corner reminiscing about some of the history of this storied Program, mindfully both schools have such famed alumni. Thornton entered the game with an unblemished (21-0) record and got out the gate fast scoring the first couple baskets of the contest displaying why they are recognized as one of the top teams in the state. They’re trademark tough gritty/tenacious defensive style can discombobulate many opponents. Ball movement and outside shooting has been the fruit of their recent success. Bloom finally weathered the intense pressure and finished the opening quarter down one 13-12. Bloom (20-5) trots out five Division One players, finally took control after intermission going on a 14-5 run to close the third quarter. Tulsa recruit Keshawn Williams was just too lethal in the second half, he finished with 23 points and array of acrobatic finishes including several dunks. Cal-State Fullerton signee Dante Maddox Jr. registered 20. Christian Shumate, one of the top un-signed seniors in the state, tallied 13 points & 14 rebounds. Senior guard Ari Brown led Thornton with 23 points. “What a great hoop environment…”

Glenbrook South’s six-foot five senior guard Dom Martinelli is a bad dude; dynamite high school player who impacts games on nightly basis. All he does is win, in which he demonstrated Thursday night in a victory over No. 2 Evanston where he dialed up 34 points, 10 rebounds and dished out four assists. We’ve spoken to many locals about him in recent weeks and the masses tend to brand him as an old-school/throw-back type or noon baller, totally dismissing his impressive accomplishments. They claim D2/Small College. “We ain’t buying the fluff!” Martinelli scored 99 points in four games at the hardwood classic over the Xmas break, GB South won it. Dom averages nearly 30 points an outing. Patriot League should be watching closely, we will be visiting him this week.

Whitney Young’s senior guard Tyler Beard made a startling revelation this week, he committed to Georgetown. “Congrats to the young fella.”

Reportedly, one of the state’s top 10 players Collinsville’s silk-smooth guard Ray’Sean Taylor de-committed from his pledge to Southern Illinois Edwardsville. He’s enjoying an outstanding season and has his Collinsville squad ranked among the top 4A teams in the state. He certainly will be heavily coveted, anticipate some interest from some of our state schools and just across the river St. Louis U.

The whole Lincoln Park fiasco has been a horrendous stiff-upper-lip. One of the Chicago Public League’s gold standard Programs marred in a messy misconduct allegation steaming from a trip last month to Detroit where a student/player incident put a cloud over their remarkable season. The Lions are currently 19-3 and ranked 9th or 10th in the Chicago Sun Times weekly casting. Pat Gordon, highly regarded among his peers, has been suspended since early January but has managed to keep his program/system in place where the team is still successful despite some ugly allegations. This Program and the student body at LP doesn’t deserve this.