“I was open and he gave it to me,” said Clayborn of his teammate, senior guard Paris Paramore. “I just drove and shot it.
Paramore led all scorers with 21 points, including 5 three pointers, with 3 of them coming on consecutive possessions in the 4th quarter to keep
“I knew everyone would be looking for me (to shoot) and that someone would be wide open,” said Paramore of his assist to Clayborn for the win. “At the end of the game I wanted the ball, every shot I took I felt like I knew I’d hit. This year my goal is to get back where I was last year, the City Championship.”
6-5 junior forward Mike Haynes added 13 points and 10 rebounds for
Farragut 60 vs. Hales Franciscan 59
“The summer is over now, so when we play them it is personal,” said Mike Dunnigan. The 6-10 senior’s Farragut Admirals played Chicago Hales Franciscan today in a battle of city heavyweights. Hales features Phillip Williams, Matt Humphrey and Josh Crittle: all of them were teammates of Dunnigan this past spring and summer on the AAU circuit with Meanstreets.
Dunnigan said it was personal, and played like it too, collecting 19 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 blocks en-route to a 60-59 win.‘‘This is the last chance I’ll have to play with these guys so we want to take everything we can take,” said Dunnigan. “Our goal is to go into the playoffs undefeated.”
Humphrey, Crittle, and Dunnigan are all committed to play basketball next year for the Oregon Ducks.
Junior Marcus Campbell led Hales with 16 points, and Williams, a transfer from
Simeon 45 vs.
Lazerick Jones may not be the biggest player on Simeon, as he stands at just 5 foot 11. He may not be the most well known either, as four of his teammates are committed to division one schools, and a few more are very highly ranked as well. However, tonight he may have had the most heart in the gym, as he drove to the hoop fearlessly with 14 seconds left and his Wolverines down 1 to
“I just had my mind set to get to the basket and to get back and play hard on defense,” said Jones.
Coming off a loss last night to Lafayette Catholic (KY), this was a much needed win for Head Coach Robert Smith’s Wolverines. Their next game is against downstate power Decatur Eisenhower, a team that features Purdue-bound Lewis Jackson and Illinois State-bound Jeremy Robinson.
“We just missed shots,” said Coach Smith. “We were getting good looks and just not hitting them,” he continued. “We won two straight state championships, but we aren’t looking ahead to state this year. We aren’t looking to state, or city, we are just focusing on our next game. Or biggest thing is one game at a time, and right now we are focusing on Eisenhower.”
Homewood-Flossmoor 66 vs. Whitney Young 55
The soul of a team is only revealed when they are punched straight in the face, and the Whitney Young Dolphins have one hell of a bruise. The crushing blow was delivered by Homewood-Flossmoor’s two-headed monster of SIU recruit Kevin Dillard and Illinois Football recruit Supo Sanni. The Vikings talented duo accounted for 49 of H-F’s 66 points in an 11-point win over top ranked Whitney Young. Young, coming off of a win Saturday night against Scott County, KY (ranked number one in Kentucky), looked very sluggish after their seven-hour bus ride home.
“We wanted to use their fatigue to our advantage,” Sanni said. “We knew that they were tired and we were trying to exploit that.” Sanni finished with 25 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Each team traded baskets throughout the first half, with Dillard (12 first half points) leading the way for H-F and Senior Brian Hall (10 first half points) leading the way for Young.
Although the Dolphins came out of halftime with newfound energy and enthusiasm, it didn’t last, as the Vikings dominated the undersized Young team in the post and on the boards, where the Vikings had a 44-22 advantage for the game. H-F continued to do a great job of shutting Young’s guards down as well as out hustling them on the boards to extend their lead to as much as 16 in the second half.
Young Coach Tyrone Slaughter tried to pick up the pace of the game by deploying a five-guard offense, but it was not enough as the Vikings continued to pound inside for the rest of the game.
“We came out to show the state that we can play,” said Dillard, who finished with 24 points and 6 steals. “We want that top ranking and we are playing really good basketball right now.”