Jakobi Heady shoots Hillcrest past Oak Lawn

Jakobi Heady’s shooting touch might be a surprise to Hillcrest’s opponents, but not to the Hawks.

Heady, a 6-6 junior, hit all four of his three-point attempts in the first half Friday night to get Hillcrest rolling on the way to a 72-65 South Suburban Conference crossover win at Oak Lawn.

“I love that shot,” Heady said. “I practice it a lot.”

Hawks coach Don Houston loves it, too, especially when opposing teams pour all their focus into stopping another 6-6 junior, Julius Rollins.

“He can stroke it, and I love for him to shoot it,” Houston said of Heady, who finished with a team-high 14 points. “It’s just a pretty release, and it’s pretty when it goes through the net.”

Oak Lawn put its best player, 6-4 senior guard Sami Osmani, on Rollins. That made for some matchup problems when Heady hit three three-pointers during a 16-3 run that pushed Hillcrest’s lead to 33-20 with 4:17 left in the second quarter.

“They knocked down a bunch of threes that were contested,” Oak Lawn coach Jason Rhodes said. “[Heady] was the difference in the game for them. . . . He hadn’t shot the ball that well on film as far as I had seen.”

Heady isn’t the only Hawks player with a green light to shoot.

“I want all my guys to shoot with confidence, not just him,” Houston said. “He’s not the only one who’s going to shoot it. We’ve got the length to rebound.”

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

1 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

2 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

3 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

4 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

5 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

6 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

7 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

8 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

9 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

10 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

11 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

12 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

13 of 14

Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

14 of 14

Kenton Wright added 13 points for Hillcrest (3-2, 1-0 SSC Blue) and Rollins scored 10 of his 12 points after halftime. Mar’Keise Irving, a three-star prospect in football who had been out with an injury, had eight points in his season debut.

“That’s my guy,” Heady said. “He brings a lot of spark to the team, a lot of toughness.”

Irving was one of five Hawks to hit a three-pointer.

“He’s at about 95 percent, but his energy just gives us so much,” Houston said. “I know he wants to produce more because he’s such a competitor. But we have good enough talent right now, he doesn’t have to get forced to do so much.”

Indeed, Hillcrest is comfortable going nine or 10 players deep.

“I think we’ve got the best bench in the state,” Heady said.

“We can play our hardest, I can bring guys in and we don’t lose much,” Houston said.

Most of the offense for Oak Lawn (5-1, 0-1 SSC Red) came from two players. Trey Ward had 26 points and went 6-for-9 from three-point range, and Osmani had 25 points.

“Teams are going to key on Sami,” Rhodes said. “[Ward’s] that next guy that if we move the basketball to, he’s going to get a great game.”

Hillcrest led by as many as 15 in the first half and stayed comfortably in control most of the rest of the way. Oak Lawn got as close as 54-48 early in the fourth quarter, but Hillcrest pushed the lead back to 71-55 with just over a minute left.

“They’re a well-disciplined team,” Houston said of the Spartans. “They’re going to do a lot of things to slow you down and they have great players.”

But Oak Lawn had no answer for Heady, and that was the difference.