Michael O’Brien’s notebook: Nov. 23, 2018

CHAMPAIGN—I have a feeling that most of you reading this saw a basketball game today or tonight. I wasn’t so lucky. Just one more day of football left. Plenty of action tonight so best just to get to it…

Friday’s top games

No. 5 Bloom 60: No. 13 Homewood-Flossmoor 58 OT: The Vikings had plenty of chances to win it at the end, but Bloom holds on at home. Keshawn Williams had 24, Donovan Newby 15. Big game for Issac Stanback with 28 points. Don’t look now, but the Blazing Trojans lived up to the hype in the opening week.

No. 24 Brother Rice 61, Lincoln-Way East 58: The Crusaders are 3-0 and justifying the ranking so far. Loyola recruit Marquise Kennedy scored 22. Julian Barr led the Griffins with 16.

Riverside-Brookfield 70, No. 10 Oak Park 50: It is very early but this is a statement win for the Bulldogs. Teams are going to be lining up to host Game Week now. Andrew Veon led they way with 19 points and Zach Vaia added 16.

Prosser 50, St. Patrick 40: This should help some people notice what is happening over at Prosser. The Falcons are 2-2 this season, should be competitive. Sophomore Norvell Meadows scored 19 and freshman Antonio Sutton scored 11, made three three-pointers.

No. 17 Marian Catholic 73, No. 23 Hillcrest 67: Ahron Ulis led the spartans with 21, made 11 of 12 freee throw. Elijah Jones added 16 and Yemi Elutilo scored 14. I learned earlier this week that Marian Catholic is deeper and more talented than I expected. Looks like it could make a jump in the rankings on Sunday. The loss to H-F on Wednesday was without Ulis. Dylan West led Hillcrest with 21. He’s clearly one of the area’s best big men and a major omission from my Top 50 players list. Sophomore Mar’Keise Irving added 20 for the Hawks.

No. 22 Kenwood 58, Wheaton North 55: Another nice win for the Broncos. Keep your eyes on Wheaton North though, this score is a good sign. Artese Stapleton led Kenwood with 18 points and Jacob Schauer led the Falcons with 19.

North Lawndale 62, Grant 47: Nice balance effort from the Phoenix. Demetrius Douglas scored 13, Marquise Earskines 10 and big man Zion Washington had nine points and 10 blocks.

Thornton 67, Dunlap 52: Ari Brown led the Wildcats with 22 and Homewood-Flossmoor transfer Demarco Minor added 20 points, five steals and five assists.

Orr 73, North Chicago 38: Domination by Orr. Tujautae Williams and Greg Outlaw each scored 16 and freshman Leontae Lilly added nine.

No. 12 Leo, Cy-Fair, TX 57 OT: The Lions pull it out in overtime. Fred Cleveland continues his scoring tear with 24. DaChaun Anderson had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Kendale Anderson added 15 points and eight boards.

Stagg 60, Argo 44: Martin Macenis with 28 and the Chargers are 3-0.

De La Salle 70, Niles West 42: The Meteors win the St. Patrick/Glenbrook North Tournament. Joshua Holmes scored 20 and Abnar Muhammad added 15.

No. 8 Curie 74, Peoria Manual 53: Two Pontiac teams play each other in Springfield. DaJuan Gordon with a huge effort, 25 points and 12 rebounds. Justin Harmon added 20 and Damari Nixon scored 11.

Harlan 73, Joliet West 60: The young Falcons beat the young Tigers. LaShaun Glover Jr. is off to a nice start to the season, he had 18. Ryan Robinson added 13, Eddie Niles 11 and D’Carius Davis 11. Harlan will face Brother Rice in the title game.

Willowbrook 70, St. Joseph 60: The Warriors are just outside the Super 25 right now and could be joining soon. Everett Stubblefield Jr. is the real deal. The junior had 27 points, eight rebounds and four steals.

Niles North 55, No. 25 Notre Dame 50: The Dons drop another one. Remember, there are some football players just getting back into the swing of things. I fully expect Notre Dame to be a factor by February. Nice win for the Vikings, who lost a ton to graduation.

No. 14 Waukegan 67, St. Louis Christian 62: Big game for Bryant Brown with 25 points and six rebounds. The Bulldogs rebound from a Thanksgiving night loss to Providence-St. Mel.

Providence-St. Mel 58, Quincy 52:The Knights are now 2-0 after knocking off Waukegan. They were not happy about missing out on the preseason Super 25 and appear to be playing their way in. Tyriel Nelson, Eric Jordan and Deion Jackson have been handling the scoring so far this season. Big man Taeyon Neal, a UIC recruit, had 14 rebounds against Quincy.

No. 15 Oswego East 63, West Aurora 51: The Wolves win the championship. Kamron Battle had 16, Damari Grant 14. They are living up to all the lofty preseason expectations so far.

Joliet Central 73, Lemont 71 OT: Really big win for the Steelmen. Deejay Holmes led the way with 23 points, five assists and four steals. Nate Ferguson scored 25 for Lemont.

Hyde Park 71, Perspectives-MSA 36: New coach Reggie Bates gets his first win. Sophomore Jalen Houston scored 25 and senior Brejon Johnson had 23 points and 15 boards.

No. 4 Bogan 68, Rock Island 54: Rashaun Agee drops 20 points and eight boards. Look out if he’s playing like that. Jordan Booker added 16 points and nine assists.

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. 2 Evanston 65, Prospect 37: For the second time in three games, the Wildkits were stuck in neutral for parts of the first quarter Friday. As was the case Tuesday, it didn’t take them long to find the right gear and win in a rout.

Evanston (3-0) plays Saint Viator (3-0) on Saturday in a game that will determine the tournament title. The Lions went undefeated on their way to the championship last season.

“I like their chances, and I like our chances,” Evanston head coach Mike Ellis said. “It will be a good test.”

Tied 11-all after the first eight minutes, Evanston (3-0) pulled away with a 24-point second quarter to go into the half ahead 35-17. The Wildkits scored another 24 in the third to increase the lead to 59-29 by the start of the fourth.

“We could have easily settled into the early pace, but the guys dug in their feet and turned it up.”

Senior guard Lance Jones, who signed with Southern Illinois this week, scored a team-best 13 points to go with four rebounds and three steals. Senior guard Jaheim Holden and sophomore guard Jaylin Gibson each had 11 points. Holden added five assists and two steals, while Gibson finished with eight rebounds and two assists.

Senior guard Sam Murray had a game-best 14 points and seven rebounds for the Knights (1-3). Senior guard Ben Miller had four points and three steals.

No. 9 St. Viator 60, Conant 43: Senior guard and Wright State-bound Treyvon Calvin scored 10 of his game-best 20 points in the first quarter to lead the Lions to victory. He added five rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Senior forward Jeremiah Hernandez, who will play at Kent State, added 18 points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals. Junior forward Michael Huene finished with 10 points.

The Lions (3-0) went into halftime ahead 32-14.

Senior guard Brandon Blakely finished with 14 points for the Cougars (1-2). Senior forward Raj Mittal added 12 points.