The Simeon Wolverines went to four overtimes, surviving four last shot chances by Curie to advance 64-60 to the Chicago Public League’s basketball championship on Saturday. Kenwood advanced as well with a deliberate but convincing 56-42 win over a newcomer to the City Championship final four, Perspectives-Leadership.
I have never seen four overtimes in a basketball game, until today. Four times Simeon had chances to put away the Curie Condors and four times Curie battled with a shot to win the game at the buzzer. Simeon’s defense wouldn’t allow it.
Curie’s head coach Mike Oliver called times out at that the ends of the second and third overtimes with under nine seconds giving his team not a lot of time to inbound the ball, crack the 1-3-1 pressure from Simeon’s Rubin twins to get up a game winner. Twice the Condors launched desperation shots that were nowhere close to going in, twice they didn’t even get up shots.
In the fourth overtime, Simeon managed to get a lead on Jalen Griffith and Miles Rubin’s free throws that Jeremy Harrington and the other Condors could not overcome.
Simeon’s Jalen Griffith finished with 21 points. Miles Rubin had 10 including two late free throws to seal the victory. Sam Lewis had 9. For Curie, Carlos Harris had, 17 Jeremy Harrington 16, Kros Barrett 13 and Shawn Brown 10. 64-60 was the final with the winner to meet the winner of the following game, Kenwood v. Perspectives-Leadership.
Mike Irvin and his Kenwood Broncos faced the unlikely upstart Perspectives-Leadership Warriors. On January 17th, the Broncos went into Perspectives’ gym and jumped out to a 31-7 lead after the first quarter on the strength of points in transition. The Warriors had no way to stop the lighting quick Broncos.
Until today that is. “We did a better job slowing down the game, playing a half court zone [defense] in the first half. It helped us out a lot. At home, we put a lot of pressure on the ball in half court. They got a head start on us. Today we were able to play a slower game. It worked in our favor in the first half. In the second half, it went the other way,” said Warriors head coach Mike Smith.
Even so, the Broncos were too much for the Warriors. The Broncos pulled away in the second had outscoring the Warriors 31-18.
Perspectives-Leadership’s impressive first half against Mike Irvin’s powerhouse Broncos squad bodes well for the upcoming IHSA 2A state tournament. The Warriors land the #1 seed in the Julian Sub-sectional B. Other top seeds in the Joliet (Central) Super-sectional include Phillips, DePaul Prep and Christ the King.
Perspectives has taken a big jump in its first year in CPL’s Red Division becoming the first charter school to make it to the City Championship final four. The addition of transfers Jakeem Cole (for Leo) and brothers Gianni Cobb and Kamarion Cobb from Bloom raised expectations. Gianni Cobb and Jakeem Cole lead the Warriors with 16 and 14 points respectively.
Kenwood’s leading scorer was Jaden Smith with 14 points. Darrin “Dai Dai” Ames and 13 points despite sitting much of the second period with two early fouls. Tyler Smith had 12.
Saturday evening’s City Championship at UIC’s Credit One Arena—the old Pavilion, will be a showdown between the old and the new. Simeon head coach is on his victory lap as he plans to retire after this season. Mike Irvin and his Kenwood Broncos fancy themselves the new rising powerhouse in CPS. Never at a loss for words, Mike Irvin said, “we are excited.”
“This is what we worked for all season. We told everbody, we are a great team. We will be here. We changed his name to Disco Dai Dai [Darrin Ames] because he was dancing tonight. We are excited to be here.”
We got the matchup of the best teams. I guess we see how it works out.
