PONTIAC — Curie junior Allante’ Pickens is pretty far down the list of players that most people expected to star for the Condors this season.
Elijah Joiner is one of the state’s top juniors, Devin Gage is a DePaul recruit and sophomore Landers Nolley II has opened plenty of eyes.
Pickens has been a serious threat in every one of Curie’s game so far, and he has starred in several. Wednesday morning in the first quarterfinal game of the Pontiac Holiday Tournament, Pickens scored 20 points to lead the Condors to a 62-49 win over Danville.
“With Devin and Elijah able to get to the basket it allows Pickens to be open and shoot three’s,” Curie coach Mike Oliver said. “He’s a good shooter when he’s wide-open, but we didn’t know he had all those other ways to score.”
Terry Smith Jr., a 6-5 junior, scored 13 and grabbed six rebounds. Devin Gage had nine points and Joiner scored seven.
The Condors (8-1) dominated from the start, the moved the ball well and the starting group only turned the ball over four times.
Curie has not lost on the court this season (they picked up a forfeit loss to Orangeville Prep). It’s one of the best groups Oliver has had.
“We have so many weapons on this team,” Oliver said. “On any given night we can start two different guards and two different power forwards. So this team is much deeper, but it would be hard to beat the Cliff Alexander team.”
Nico Johnson led Danville (8-2) with 16 points and Jordan Cunningham scored 10.
Curie will face the winner of the Simeon vs. Bloomington quarterfinal in the semis on Thursday.
