Chikasi Ofoma didn’t play up to his usual standards in Curie’s first two games against Simeon. The Condors lost both of those games. One was the title game at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament and the other a Red-South/Central conference game.
“The first two times I was a little in my head because those are my old teammates and I was overthinking it,” Ofoma said. “My coaches still had confidence in me even when I was playing bad in those games. They emphasized to have energy early in the game and everything would work out.”
Ofoma did just that, scoring early and setting the tone in No. 9 Curie’s 71-64 win against No. 3 Simeon in the Public League semifinals on Thursday at UIC’s Credit Union 1 Arena.
“Simeon thought they were just going to walk in and beat us,” Condors coach Mike Oliver said. “We jumped out to a big lead on them at Pontiac but we are a young team and didn’t know how to handle it. We let them off the hook twice. This time we had to pull it out.”
Ofoma finished with 21 points and nine rebounds and junior Jeremy Harrington added 20 points and 11 rebounds. Both players are giving up a few inches to Simeon’s Lance Rogers and twins Wes and Miles Rubin, who are all 6-7.
“It’s not illegal to put a body on somebody,” Oliver said. “The first two games we let them just camp out in the middle like two Sears towers.”
Curie (24-5) led 33-21 at halftime and 52-41 after three quarters. After the results in the first two matchups, it always felt like Simeon (23-4) would make a late run. That eventually happened.
Wes Rubin scored on a dunk with 4:12 left to cut Curie’s lead to 58-52. Then Rubin connected with his brother for a nice assist to cut the lead to four. Rubin, an extremely impressive passer for a big man, found senior Jaylen Drane for a wide-open three with 1:21 to play. That pulled Simeon within 66-64.
But Ofoma delivered in the biggest moment of the game, converting a traditional three-point play with 22 seconds left to seal the win.
“This young group stayed together during the course of the game,” Oliver said. “Most guys their age would have been satisfied playing Simeon tough. But these guys still believed they could win when Simeon cut it to a two-point game at the end.”
Glenbrook South dominated Curie on Saturday at Wintrust Arena. Harrington said that game was a valuable experience.
“After that, we knew how big the [college] court was,” Harrington said. “I had to be in better shape and be prepared to run up and down the court the whole time. And I did that.”
Drane and Wes Rubin each scored 14 for Simeon.
“They just wanted it more than we did,” Simeon coach Robert Smith said.
Curie will face Young in the city championship game on Saturday.
Curie’s last city title came in 2019. The Condors also won in 2014 but were later forced to forfeit the game by Chicago Public Schools. The 2014 title is now listed as vacated.
Watch the final minute of Simeon vs. Curie:
— Michael O'Brien (@michaelsobrien) February 11, 2022
