[Preview of this week’s story in the Inside—Booster.]
By Jack Lydon
Lincoln Park hosted Lane Tech (9-9, 4-3) Thursday for a key game in the Chicago Public League’s Red Shield conference. Basically, the championship of the Northside. The Lions (15-1, 6-1) handled the Champions winning 62-46.
Some might have thought that with Lincoln Park ranked #11 and having a gaudy win/loss record, it would be all Lions. But Lane Tech has played have played top competition this season. Very top competition: #1 DePaul Prep, #2 Kenwood, #6 Brother Rice, #12 Curie, #13 Niles North—twice, formerly ranked St. Ignatius as well as top out-of-state competition at a Washington DC shootout. And the Champions just knocked off #19 Whitney Young on Tuesday. The Champions are much, much better than their record indicates.
With the size and length that the Champions possess, their ability in recent games to hit three-pointers and playing on Lincoln Park’s small home court, this thing could have gone either way.
It went Lincoln Park’s way, and it started early. The Lions jumped out to an 8-0 first quarter lead. The Lions were amped up and playing tough inside and out. Hitting shots and grabbing boards on both ends.
“[Our] guys they came in with a lot of fight,” Lincoln Park head coach Joshua Anderson said of his Lions.
“They executed. They were mentally locked in. They played harder. They played tougher. They played technique. They boxed out. They did exactly what I told them to do. I told them the shots what would be open. That’s just all from our execution.”
Lane rallied and made it game. Lane’s Zach Mazanowski quickly added five points late in the first quarter bringing them right back. Even so, the Lions would maintain a six to ten-point lead throughout most of the rest of the game.
The Lions gave no quarter to the size and length possessed by the Champions. Lions’ center Keyshawn Barfield battled the Champions’ division one prospect center Dalton Scantlebury the whole game.
The Lions turned off Lane’s usually productive three-point shooter. The Champions managed only one three-point field goal in the gameThe Lincoln Park gym is a unique place for top-level high school basketball game. It’s small. Very small. Three rows of seats on each side and none along the baselines. The staff at Lincoln Park are careful only to all proper number of people in the gym. It couldn’t be more than a couple hundred. But it was enough to make it load and provide a distinct home court advantage for the Lions with their students and fans quite literally on the edge of the court.
“I think the atmosphere was great. I love it. It was like a north side battle. You’ve got kids on both sides who know each other. It was great. I think the home court advance came to us, our school and wave of kids came out and show pride and support,” Anderson said of his team’s home court advantage.
The Lincoln Park Lions are one of the teams that emerged this year. It’s not like no one expected them to be good. They should signa last season. But the Lions have been a top team Ranked all year. They defeated Whitney Young, St. Laurence and Curie, all ranked teams. They lost to Red Shield rival and perennial powerhouse Simeon by one point in a wild one at Simeon. They lost to suburban powerhouse Warren Township also by just one point.
Of their success this year, Anderson said, “I attribute that to the hard work that these guys put in. We watch film. We work on things. When it comes to certain teams and they see film and they see what a team can't doing and won't do, we feed off that and we attacked that. We attack team’ s weaknesses.”
The Lions are poised to win the Red Shield conference. It could work out that the Lions will play #2 ranked Kenwood who is undefeated in the conference for the championship. The Lions have one loss in the conference, but if they win the rest of their conference games and defeat Kenwood in the regular season penultimate game, they would be Red Shield champs.
Just saying. Still almost half the season to play.
