Thornton is one of my favorite places to watch a game. The old gym in Harvey has a media table with a wonderful sightline to see all the action and Tai Streets’ teams are always competitive.
The less said about tonight’s game the better. Both Kankakee and Thornton have a lot of work to do over the next few months. Maybe I’ll check in with them again closer to the playoffs.
I’m glad I got a look at those two teams but for whatever reason I almost went up to see Lake Forest against Waukegan. Asa Thomas is always fun to watch and the Bulldogs have a high scoring freshman, Simereon Carter.
It wound up being a double-overtime thriller. Lake Forest won 53-46. Devin Malone led the Bulldogs with 19 and Carter was held to five points. I didn’t see any stats for the Scouts.
This is probably a good time to explain the notebook. There are a lot of new coaches and readers since the last time I did so. Basically, when I get home from whatever game I covered I scour through my Twitter feed, texts and emails and pick out the game scores and highlights that are the most interesting to me.
I tend to see most things that are on Twitter but if you tag @michaelsobrien you are much more likely to get in the notebook. I also try to retweet everything I’m tagged in. My email is mobrien@suntimes.com.
So, ranked team or not, please go ahead and send me your scores and highlights. Also, full names are important. If a team just sends out last names they are fairly unlikely to wind up in the notebook. I don’t have time to google a bunch of guys if I don’t know them, sorry. Not everything I’m sent winds up in the notebook, that would be impossible, but I try and get a cross-section of the area represented.
Thanks for reading.
Tuesday’s top games
Mount Carmel 66, St. Laurence 52: The Caravan trailed by nine at the half but got it done. DeAndre Craig scored 14 in the fourth quarter and finished with 25. Tre Marks, who really opened my eyes at the Chicago Elite Classic, had 12 points and 17 rebounds. I know St. Laurence was young last season and I didn’t get the chance to cover them. It appears the Vikings have a team worth checking out.
St. Viator 51, Marian Catholic 48: An ESCC upset! Eli Aldana returned from injury to score 17 points and made the game-winner at the buzzer.
Hyde Park 78, Lindblom 64: The Thunderbirds’ big three put up big numbers. Da’Marion Morris had 20 points and five assists, Jurrell Baldwin added 13 points, 12 rebounds and four assists and Cam Williford had 14 points and 10 assists.
Romeoville 71, Joliet Central 38: The Spartans fell out of the rankings last week but don’t forget about them. This win makes them 5-2. Meyoh Swansey had 18 points and seven assists and Troy Cicero scored 15 against his old team.
Oswego East 56, Yorkville 52: This was probably the place to be tonight but I had just covered the Wolves last week so it wasn’t a fit for my schedule. The Foxes were up by one with 1:45 left but couldn’t hold on and pull off the upset. Mekhi Lowery scored 20 and Jehvion Starwood added 17 for Oswego East. Jory Boley led Yorkville with 18.
Hoffman Estates 70, Elk Grove 48: Big game for DJ Wallace with 19 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. The Hawks are 6-1.
Ag. Science 48, Harlan 36: The number of undefeated teams is slowly decreasing. But the Cyclones are 7-0 and 2-0 in the White-South already. James White scored 12.
TF South 62, Argo 55: The first-ever notebook mention of the Red Wolves. Not sure what I think of that new nickname. Are there really red wolves? I guess I do know what I think. We have way too many big cat or big dog nicknames. Caleb Newman led TF South with 21 and Davonte Evans poured in 29 for the Argonauts (now that’s a nickname).
Kenwood 85, Brooks 40: There was a big freshman performance in this one. Noah Mister scored 18 and was 6 of 8 from three-point range. Dai Dai Ames added 16 and Aleks Alston scored 14.
Simeon 104, Morgan Park 31: Oh my. I’m told that the Wolverines didn’t even shoot for the final three minutes of the Battle of Vincennes. Sam Lewis led the way with 19 points and Miles Rubin added 15 points and eight rebounds.
Francis Parker 72, Elgin Academy 33: Payton Pitts, a player I’d like to get around to see this season, scored 24 and Caleb David addies 22 points and seven assists.
Prospect 49, Palatine 48: Another upset. The Knights were just 1-5 heading into this one and Palatine was expected to be one of the top teams in the MSL. I didn’t see any Prospect stats but Tyler Swierczek and Connor May each had 13 for the Pirates.
Wheeling 45, Schaumburg 42: RJ Gamble scored 19 and Josh Hutchinson added 12. Wheeling is fantastic about emailing scores and highlights (win or lose) and even include their opponents’ stats. Kudos to Tom Antosz for that. Josh Carter led the Saxons with 12 points.
Barrington 71, Buffalo Grove 45: Remember where the Broncos finished the season last year? They lost an awful lot but are still a perfect 6-0. Dillon Schmidt scored 18 and Donovan Nichols added 17.
Curie 67, Phillips 64: Closer than expected
Taft 69, Niles West 56: I really enjoyed watching Taft at the Chicago Elite Classic. Andre Harris is clearly doing a good job with the group. The Eagles were unselfish and played so crisply together they were more than the sum of their parts. And that was in a loss. Lyle Scibor led them with 20 points in tonight’s win and Frank Paszkowski added 15.
