Michael O’Brien’s high school basketball notebook, live from the Pontiac Holiday Tournament
Analysis, highlights and scores from the best games of the Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019
PONTIAC—It didn’t take long for the first upset to occur in the 89th Pontiac Holiday Tournament.
Warren, which entered as a complete afterthought, knocked off No. 4 seed Peoria Manual 54-45 in the second first round on Thursday.
The Rams were a controversial choice as the four seed, but no one saw 3-6 Warren pulling off the upset.
It does make some sense why it took the Blue Devils a long time to get things going this season though. Only two players scored for Warren in the fourth quarter: Juan Delacruz and Seamus Mellican. Both are football players that were key members of the Blue Devils’ squad that lost to Lincoln-Way East in the Class 8A state championship game.
Delacruz is an All-Area linebacker committed to Western Illinois Mellican played linebacker and fullback.
“Seamus played just about every down,” Warren coach Jon Jasnoch said. “You get beat up a bit, he played all the way to Thanksgiving.
“We’ve been waiting as they have slowly been getting their legs under them and their basketball timing. Mellican knocked down some free throws so that is a pretty good sign that he’s starting to get his shot back. We knew he could dunk, he just had to get that opening.”
Manual (8-4) led 41-39 after a bucket by Rolando Brown with 6:23 left. The Blue Devils responded with a 15-4 run to close out the game. Mellican and Delacruz scored all the points.
Mellican finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Delacruz had 15 points and six rebounds. Adnan Sarancic, a 6-5 senior, added 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Warren will face Benet in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
I’ll be tracking all the games listed below. There is a ton of basketball today. Highlights will depend on what the tournaments make easily accessible for me. I’ll probably update in big batches throughout the day and night.
Find the scores for all of today’s games right here:
Pontiac
First Round
Benet 66, Danville 62: Benet center Colin Crothers has been playing at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament since he was a freshman. He wasn’t about to allow an injury to keep him from missing the event his senior year.
“I’ve been working on getting back in shape,” Crothers, a 6-8 Johns Hopkins recruit said. “When I was injured the timeline was worrisome to get back before this. I love playing here, it is my favorite place to play.”
Bloom vs. Lockport, 1:00
Oak Park-River Forest vs. Plainfield North, 2:30
St. Charles North vs. New Trier, 4:00
Curie vs. West Aurora, 6:00
Simeon vs. Pontiac, 7:30
Joliet West vs. Bloomington, 9:00
Hinsdale Central
Quarterfinals
Homewood-Flossmoor vs. St. Charles East, 3:45
Oswego East vs. Stevenson, 5:15
St. Rita vs. Marian Catholic, 7:00
Westinghouse vs. DePaul Prep, 8:30
Proviso West
First Round
Morton 70, Leo 62: This was expected to be one of the best games of the first round in Hillside and it delivered. Jesus Perez led the Mustangs with 22 points and eight assists and Kendell Nichols added 21 points and 13 rebounds. Kendale Anderson had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Lions.
Hillcrest 68, Hyde Park 62: Huge win for the Hawks. Hyde Park is a better team than most people realize and was fully capable of pulling off the upset. Mar’Keise Irving led the way with 18 points and five rebounds. Hamahrie Bowers had a massive game with 17 points and 16 boards. Julius Rollins added 13 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Jalen Houston led the Thurnderbirds with 20 points.
Proviso West vs. Uplift, 12:30
Fenwick vs. Larkin, 2:00
Lane vs. St. Joseph, 4:00
Bogan vs. Crete-Monee, 5:30
Dunbar vs. Zion-Benton, 7:00
Proviso East vs. Perspectives-LA, 8:30
York
First Round
Highland Park 66, Solorio 56: Val Oplchenski had 19 points and 13 rebounds. He’s clearly a name to keep an eye on. Nate Fleischer scored 15 and Billy Rudman added 12. The Sun Warriors, making their tournament debut, were led by Jordan Hill with 15 points. The Giants dominated the boards 29-15.
Schaumburg 47, Downers Grove South 46: The Mustangs held Schaumburg star Chris Hodges to just three points and one rebound and nearly pulled off the upset. Vaurice Patterson led the Saxons with 17. The stats say Schaumburg only had 12 rebounds in the game, which is insanely low. Tai Butler led Downers South with 12.
St. Laurence 77, St. Francis 73 OT: Dairus Wilson led the Vikings with 21 and Finn Walsh scored 19. Sebastian Miller scored 23 for Wheaton Academy and made 8 of 10 three-pointers.
Sandburg vs. Lyons, 1:30
Batavia vs. Andrew, 3:30
Conant vs. Rolling Meadows, 5:00
Nazareth vs. St. Ignatius, 6:30
Montini vs. York, 8:00
Hinsdale South 72, Elk Grove 45
Providence 54, Lemont 52
Riverside-Brookfield 65, Stagg 48
Palatine vs. Wheaton North, 1:00
Glenbard East vs. Brother Rice, 3:00
Naperville North vs. St. Patrick, 4:30
Lake Forest vs. Timothy Christian, 6:00
Minooka vs. Bolingbrook, 7:30
Rich South
Quarterfinals
Thornton vs. Clark, 7:00
Rich Central vs. Marshall, 4:00
Rich East vs. Thornridge, 8:30
Farragut vs. Rich South, 5:30
Wheeling
Quarterfinals
Libertyville vs. Maine West, 3:45
Notre Dame vs. Prospect, 5:30
Niles North vs. Fremd, 7:15
St. Viator vs. Glenbrook South, 8:45
Bloomington
First round
Normal vs. North Chicago, 6:30
Wheaton-Warrenville South vs. Plainfield South, 1:30
Harlem vs. Gary Calumet, Ind., 3:00
Rock Island vs. Thornwood, 9:30
Normal U-High vs. Kenwood, 8:00
North Lawndale vs. Mahomet-Seymour, noon
Peoria Central 50, Joliet Central 46
Centralia
First Round
Evanston vs. Cahokia, 1:15
Champaign Central vs. Carmel, 2:45
Mount Vernon vs. Romeoville, 4:15
Alton vs. TF North, 6:30
Dyett vs. Tipton-Rosemark, Tenn., 9:30
DeKalb
First Round
DeKalb vs. LaSalle-Peru, 7:30
Geneseo vs. Hononegah, 6:00
Rockford Guilford vs. Comer, 3:00
East Dubuque vs. Yorkville, 4:30
Oswego vs. Byron, 1:30
Dundee-Crown vs. Belvidere North, noon
Naperville Central 55, West Chicago 28
Huntley 71, Schurz 58
Effingham/Teutopolis
First Round
Centennial vs. Antioch, 3:00
Moweaqua Central A&M vs. Charleston, 4:30
Corliss vs. Dixon, 6:00
Effingham vs. Sacred Heart-Griffin, 7:30
Lincoln-Way East vs. Mattoon, 3:00
St. Anthony vs. Pleasant Plains, 6:00
Oak Lawn vs. Lawrenceville, 4:30
Teutopolis vs. Brooks, 7:30
IC Catholic/Westmont
First Round
Christ the King vs. Tinley Park, 3:00
Perspectives-MSA vs. Elmwood Park, 4:30
Sullivan vs. Evergreen Park, 6:00
Catalyst-Maria vs. IC Catholic, 7:30
St. Edward vs. Eisenhower, 3:00
Legal Prep vs. Latin, 4:30
Fenton vs. Taft, 6:00
Reavis vs. Westmont, 7:30
Maine East
First Round
Maine East 72, Kennedy 37
Lakes 60, Jones 47
Addison Trail vs. Argo, noon
Crane vs. Holy Trinity, 1:30
Leyden vs. Bulls Prep, 3:00
Niles West vs Lincoln-Way West, 4:30
Vernon Hills vs. Von Steuben, 6:00
Oak Forest vs. McHenry, 7:30
Pekin
First Round
Washington, Ill. vs. Lake Zurich, 12:45
Boylan vs. Mount Carmel, 2:15
Moline vs. Hersey, 3:45
Pekin vs. Plainfield East, 6:30
Lake Park vs. Limestone, 8:00