Michael O’Brien’s notebook: Nov. 21, 2019

There is always a great atmosphere on Thanksgiving Eve at Marian Catholic, such a great event to help ignite the season.

Read all about Homewood-Flossmoor’s win against Marian Catholic and Rich Central’s overtime victory against TF South.

Tonight’s notebook photo is courtesy of Scott Comeau of Ball is Life. He was down in Washington and caught this season’s debut of The Show.

That is a nice start for Jacobs and the Titans.

Wednesday’s top games

No. 19 Benet 65, Fenwick 46: The Redwings win it with a big second half. Newcomer Kendrick Tchuoa is living up to his billing, he scored 24. Friars soph Bryce Hopkins has started the season very well, he scored 12 and grabbed 10 boards.

No. 15 Oswego East 48, Naperville North 40: RayJ Dennis scored 23 to lead the way. It’s becoming clear that the Huskies and new coach Gene Nolan are going to be better than expected. Loyola recruit Tom Welch is a force and could be a Player of the Year candidate. He’s putting up monster numbers so far, had 21 points and 12 boards in this one.

No. 21 DePaul Prep 65, No. 25 Notre Dame 46: Perry Cowan scored 22 in a big win for the Rams. Sophomore Anthony Sayles led the Dons with 16.

No. 5 Bloom 50, No. 23 Hillcrest 46: The Blazing Trojans begin to live up to the hype. Donovan Newby scored 14, Dante Maddox Jr. had 11. Big man Martice Mitchell grabbed nine rebounds. I’m not going to lie, I was a little worried about Bloom after last night.

New Trier 55, No. 18 Loyola 52: The Trevians win the rivalry game and look like a possible new addition to the Super 25 on Monday.

Lincoln-Way East 68, Plainfield South 67: Julian Barr drained three three-pointers in the game, including the winner with four seconds to play. Alex Witkowski added 11 points for the 2-0 Griffins.

Riverside Brookfield 69, Morton 63: Sun-Times Game Week star Zach Vaia had a monster night with 31 points and seven assists. Another hard-fought game from Morton.

Grant 69, Carmel 63: Cool the Corsairs hype train? Take notice of Grant? Oh who knows, these November notebooks are tough.

Oak Park 85, Rich East 60: Dominant win from the Huskies. Anthony Roberts scored 22, Chase Robinson had 17. Word is Dashon Enoch is a little banged up.

West Aurora 69, Oswego 66: Marquise Walker scored 24. This sets up a nice title game against Oswego East.

Lincoln-Way Central 69, Joliet West 63: It was very nice of Job Gunderson to apologize when he sent this score over. It did kinda ruin my night. A battle of underclassmen! And the Knights pull it out. Sophomore Matt Maloney scored 23, sophomore Sean Curran had 13 and sophomore Nick Tinley added 11.

Westinghouse 76, Hope Academy 66: Nice little win for the Warriors. Devin Davis is starting to make me curious. He had 33 points tonight and is averaging 29 so far this season. Sophomore Juvon Spivey added 18 off the bench.

Harlan 65 Rich South 61: The Falcons are off to a 2-0 start. Sophomore LaShaun Glover Jr. had 27 points, six rebounds and four assists. D’Carius Davis added 16 and Ryan Robinson scored 10.

Dwight 65, Momence 63: Wow, FOX WATCH vs. MOMENCE WATCH and I missed it. Sounds like it was a great game. Logan Graham and Dakota Wahl each scored 17 points for Dwight. Lamarius Lillard had 34 for Momence, he’s on fire.

Rayvile (Louisiana) 82, No. 12 Leo 66: Rough start to the season for the Lions. Rayville are the defending state champs in Louisiana and have won 36 consecutive games. Sloppy game for Leo with 24 turnovers. Lions also missed 12 of 16 free throws. Fred Cleveland scored 26.

Galesburg 87, Sacred Heart-Griffin 84 OT: This report comes from the Register-Mail’s Jackson White. The notebook is branching out all over the place. Galesburg led by as many as 21 but went 9 of 24 on free throws in the fourth quarter. Galesburg’s Justin Endthoff hit a 3 to tie it at 84 and then made a pair of FTs to help the Streaks ice it. Keith Cunningham had 28 for Galesburg. SHG’s Nick Broeker (Ole Miss football OL recruit) had 31.

Matt Harness is doing write-ups from the St. Viator Joe Majkowski Thanksgiving Classic again this year. Here is his stuff on tonight’s two games:

No. 9 St. Viator 72, Prospect 65:St. Viator head coach Quin Hayes wasn’t too pleased with Wednesday’s performance, but he reminded himself it’s early in the season.

“We were lucky to win,” he said. “We are nowhere where we need to be, but we will get better. Credit Prospect. They played a great game. Hats off to them.”

The Lions (2-0) led 38-28 at the half and 52-45 after three quarters. The teams combined to score 40 points in the fourth.

“We struggled defensively, and we were not disciplined on offense,” Hayes said. “We can improve.”

St. Viator senior guard and Wright State-bound Treyon Calvin scored a game-high 26 points. Senior forward Jeremiah Hernandez, who signed with Kent State, added 22 points.

But according to Hayes, senior forward Kevin Murphy, junior guard Michael Campagna and junior forward Owen Hickey were instrumental in the win.

“All three did a great job of matching Prospect’s intensity,” Hayes said. “All three played hard on both ends of the floor.”

Prospect senior forward Jon Kreidler finished with 21 points. Senior guard Sam Murray added 13 points, and senior forward Michael Slupski contributed 10 points for the Knights (1-2).

No. 2 Evanston 85, Libertyville 51:The Wildkits, who took third place in Class 4A last season, scored at least 20 in every quarter on their way to a second win in a row by 32 points or more.

Senior guard Ryan Bost had a game-best 19 points for Evanston (2-0). Senior guard and Southern Illinois-bound Lance Jones added 15 points, while sophomore forward Louis Lesmond finished with 13.

The Wildcats (0-3) were led on offense by senior guard Brian Wilterdink, who scored 16. Junior forward Patrick Graham added 10 points.