First-year Brooks coach Lorin Chaney knows exactly what he wants his program to eventually become.
“We want to be the South Side Whitney Young,” Chaney said. “That’s my goal.”
It’s easy to see how that could happen. Brooks has the academics, the facilities and an impressive fan base. Chris Head coached the Eagles to the city title in 2011, so the school has tasted success before. The first step is to get back into the Red Division, and on Thursday sophomore Chaz Harvey helped make that a real possibility.
Harvey’s sneaky and strong drive to the basket to score with four seconds to play gave the Eagles a 64-63 win against Ag. Science in a crucial White-South clash.
“If I got the ball in the last few seconds I knew I was taking the shot,” Harvey said. “Big players make big plays. That game was a team effort though.”
That was Harvey’s only basket of the game. He made one of two free throws with 38 seconds left to tie the game at 62. The scoreboard operator added a phantom point for the Cyclones after that, which resulted in a lengthy delay while the teams argued and the referees discussed what the score was. They decided on 63-62, which was incorrect.
“I mean, are you kidding me?” Chaney said. “This is our gym. Stuff happens I guess.”
Ag. Science turned the ball over on the next possession and then Brooks turned it over and then the Cylones turned it over again to set up Harvey’s heroics.
“[Harvey] is really good at going to the basket and finishing like that so I was ok with it,” Chaney said. “He does it a lot.”
Junior Isaiah Tolbert had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles (7-8, 6-0). He has a sturdy build a very solid all-around game. Pierre Poindexter, a 6-4 forward, led Brooks with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
“I trust [Harvey] a lot,” Poindexter said. “I knew it was a good attempt and if he missed I was going to clean the board up.”
Junior Milan Williams added nine points for the Eagles. Poindexter is the only senior starter.
“I won’t be here next year but I’m playing for my teammates, to get them into the Red next year so they can get some college looks,” Poindexter said.
Ag. Science senior Kyle Rowan is one of the city’s most dependable scorers, but he was scoreless in the first half and had just two points in the third quarter.
That changed in crunch time. Rowan scored 18 in the fourth quarter to pull the Cyclones back into the game. He made three three-pointers in a 1:30 stretch.
“We played him tough and kept him off-kilter a bit,” Chaney said. “But he just zeroed in at the end and there wasn’t anything we could do. He’s just really good.”
Junior Elijah Jones added 14 points for Ag. Science (13-5, 5-1) and Jaden House added 11 points off the bench.
“We still have Fenger ahead but this was just a huge win,” Tolbert said. “Getting into the Red next year is my biggest dream.”
Final minute of Ag. Science at Brooks https://t.co/YN6j4fgIpL
— Michael O'Brien (@michaelsobrien) January 11, 2019
