Michael O’Brien’s notebook: Friday, Nov. 29, 2019

What a performance by Christian Shumate tonight. It was probably the best shot-blocking performance I’ve ever seen by someone under 6-9 or 6-7.

Bloom passes its first test of the season by winning the loaded Chicago Heights Classic. Coach Dante Maddox Sr. keeps stressing to me how he hasn’t had a single practice with his full team yet. Keshawn Williams and Martice Mitchell are both nursing injuries.

“I’m a little frustrated that people are being hard on Martice,” Maddox said. “He’s only practiced a couple times since the season started. It is very difficult to come in and have rhythm at 6-10. His ankle and knee have been hurting.”

Mitchell might not have set the world on fire this afternoon but four points, five rebounds and three blocks isn’t exactly useless. He missed most of the second quarter after picking up a second foul.

This was one of those games that definitely benefited both teams. The Blazing Trojans came out with that top-ranked swagger and composure and Marian Catholic was able to match it for most of the game.

“We can take a lot from it,” Spartans coach Mike Taylor said. “We had guys step up at times and they had guys that stepped up throughout the game. We thought we would get them tired but in the end, just from their physicality, they wore us down.”

Thanks to everyone at Marian Catholic for the hospitality and saving me a seat the last two nights. The Chicago Heights Classic is a top-notch event.

Friday’s top games

No. 7 Notre Dame 65, No. 21 DePaul Prep 60: Big win in the title game on the road for the Dons. They even survived junior Ty Johnson dropping 36 points on them. Louis Lesmond led Notre Dame with 22 and Troy D’Amico added 18 points.

Solorio 57, Mount Carmel 55: Sophomore Donovan Jones scored 15 and grabs five rebounds to lead the young Sun Warriors to a title game win on the road. Jordan Hill added 15 points and six assists and Sincere Key added 12 points and seven boards.

No. 8 Bogan 67, Rockford East 63: Appears things went according to plan for the Bengals. Antoine Bloxton scored 17 points and Kyndall Davis had 14.

No. 23 Oak Lawn 73, St. Laurence 66: Massive game from Sami Osmani with 36 points. Reggie Ward added 24 and David Reyes had to clutch free throws late in the game.

Joliet West 73, Brother Rice 53: It’s been a successful debut week for Tigers coach Jeremy Krierger so far. Up next is Lincoln-Way East in the title game tomorrow. Jamere Hill scored 27 points and Jaiden Lee added 20.

York 53, No. 20 Cary-Grove 44: Is it possible I jumped the gun a little in ranking Cary-Grove? Maybe. It’s also possible that the Dukes are pretty good. Nate Shockey led York with 22 and Beau Frericks had 16 for the Trojans.

No. 5 Stevenson 51, Palatine 44: John Ittounas led Stevenson with 15. Big man Julian Campbell had 18 for the Pirates. He’s a player I haven’t seen yet. Hopefully that changes soon.

Riverside-Brookfield 88, No. 16 Oak Park 79: Paul Zilinskas led four Bulldogs in double figures with 25.

Tinley Park 70, Comer 61: Sophomore AJ Casey scored a career-high 31 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had four blocks. Aa’Reyon Munir-Jones added 11 points and five steals and Maurice Evans added 13.

Lindblom 61, Argo 44: The Eagles win the Stagg Tournament. Marshun Williams scored 18 and Myles Twyman added 15 points.

No. 11 Lincoln Park 80, Urbana 54: Ismail Habib scored 26 to lead the lions and Julio Montes added 21 points. Romelle Howard played his first game of the season and added 14 points, six rebounds and four blocks.

De La Salle 61, Glenbrook North 49: Joshua Thornton scored 19 and Joshua Holmes added 11.

Buffalo Grove 70, Uplift 50: Sophomore Kam Craft drained eight threes and scored 32 to lead the Bison.

Here’s a recap of all the action at the St. Viator Thanksgiving Classic, provided by St. Viator.

Libertyville 62, St. Viator 60: With Libertyville’s double-digit lead down to two, senior guard Jackson Watson broke a double team and found senior forward Patrick Graham for a layup with 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter Friday. Those points turned out to be the difference in the Wildcats’ 62-60 win over Saint Viator at the Saint Viator Thanksgiving Classic.

“Those are the types of plays you need to make to relieve pressure and gain confidence,” Libertyville coach Brian Zyrkowski said.

After Graham’s basket gave Libertyville (2-1) a 62-58 lead, Saint Viator senior guard Connor Kochera scored and was fouled with 1.9 seconds to go. The Lions (2-1) rebounded his intentionally missed free throw, but they missed the shot.

The Wildcats were up 17-13 after one quarter and 29-28 at the half. They increased their advantage to as many as 13 in the third quarter and headed into the fourth ahead 47-36.

Saint Viator then staged a comeback. The Lions cut the deficit to five, 53-48, at the 4:02 mark on junior guard Aidan Harrington’s basket. They tied it up at 58-all on senior guard Michael Campagna’s layup with 46 seconds left.

After Libertyville took a 60-58 lead on junior guard Blake Ellingson’s two free throws, Graham and Watson teamed up for a steal that set up Graham’s deciding basket.

“That’s a really good team we played, and it was a dogfight,” Zyrkowski said. “I’m proud of how our guys kept their composure down the stretch.”

Ellingson led Libertyville with 15 points and added four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Graham finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Marc Michelotti and Watson each scored 11 points.

The Wildcats went 22-for-24 on free throws.

Kochera scored a game-high 22 points. Campagna contributed 19 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

No. 9 Evanston 64, Prospect 62 OT: Evanston junior guard Elijah Bull finished with two points, but the Wildkits needed both of them to escape with a 64-62 win over Prospect in overtime.

Ahead two, Bull corralled a loose ball on a broken play to score a layup that put Evanston (3-0) up 62-58 with 12 seconds to go in overtime. Prospect senior guard Matt Woloch responded with a basket, but junior guard Blake Peters made two free throws to seal the victory for the Wildkits, who took second in Class 4A last season.

Behind Woloch, who scored a game-best 32 points, the Knights (1-3) led Evanston 39-35 after three quarters and by as many as six in the fourth.

Bull had a hand in evening the score with 49.9 seconds to go by deflecting an out-of-bounds pass that Peters grabbed. Peters was fouled and hit both free throws to tie the score 54-all.

Evanston took a 56-54 lead on a basket by junior guard Jaylin Gibson with 36 seconds remaining. Woloch answered on the other end, sending the game to overtime at 56-all.

The Wildkits never trailed in overtime. It was the third game out of eight at the tournament that went extra time. Six of the games have been decided by 10 points or less.

Peters made one 3-pointer and finished with 20 points and two steals. Gibson had 19 points, 13 rebounds and two steals. Junior guard Daeshawn Hemphill ended up with 15 points.

Evanston totaled 10 steals and forced 22 turnovers.

In addition to his 32 points, Woloch had nine rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot.