Refusing to stay in its Lane: Indians thrive in super conference

The much-loved promotion/relegation system returned to Public League basketball this past season. Four teams were promoted from the White Division into the Red-South/Central and Red-North/West super conferences.

The newcomers (UP-Englewood, Lane, Corliss and Crane) were just 9-27 in conference play. Crane was 0-9, UP-Englewood 1-8. Both teams will head back down to the White next season after finishing in the bottom two spots of the 10-team conferences.

There were two success stories: Corliss and Lane.

The Trojans had a tremendous year. Harvey Jones cobbled together a group of talented transfers and finished 20-10 overall, 4-5 in the Red-South/Central and fourth in the state in Class 2A.

Bringing in talent from outside is a familiar path to hardware in the city and state and the best way to hold on to promotion in the Red. Corliss will be back in the super conference next season.

What happened at Lane was unique. The Indians may be the only team in the entire Red without a single transfer. Somehow though, they thrived. Lane finished the season 18-11 and 4-5 in the Red-North/West.

“In our locker room we all kinda believed that we were going to be competitive,” Indians coach Nick LoGalbo said. “We tried to be tougher and smarter than the teams we played.”

Lane didn’t have any Division I players, but seniors Michael Molloy, Vuk Djuric and Johnny Colombo were all four-year varsity players. Jimmy Mulvaney, Eric Stemper, Louis Perona and Rashad Harries rounded out the core group.

LoGalbo clearly has the program on the rise, but whatever success comes in the future, this is the group that reignited the basketball spark at Lane.

“Our first league game was against North Lawndale,” LoGalbo said. “Everyone knows that is a great program. Even the student body was asking if we were ready. Then the next Friday Uplift came to our gym. High school basketball in Chicago is a big deal. There was a real buzz. Because of hype videos and instagram everyone was excited to see [Markese] Jacobs play. When we won that game that was a really important turning point for us. We had a stronger fanbase from then on. They kind of believed we were for real.”

The Indians cracked the Super 25 for the first time in nearly 20 years and knocked off one of the state’s legendary programs, Proviso East, in the Class 4A state playoffs before giving Young all it could handle in the regional final.

All of the newly promoted teams struggled on the road in conference play. Preparing for that is LoGalbo’s advice to the teams that will join the league next season.

“We really only had one road game before conference play started last year,” LoGalbo said. “That was not ideal for us. We went into Marshall and that was one of the games that irked us all year. We were up six in the final two minutes and ended up losing in overtime. That is just us not being road ready. You are going to some of these gyms with such history and all the names on the walls. We have to be ready for that next year.”

THE NEXT BATCH

Lindblom, Payton, Brooks and Westinghouse will join the Red next season. There is an excellent trend developing in Public League basketball. The high-academic, selective enrollment schools are on the rise. Young, Kenwood and Lincoln Park are established programs. Lane is getting there and the addition of Payton, Brooks and Westinghouse will help change the face of the Red.

The Grizzlies and Warriors probably are the best bets to stick in the super conference for more than one season, both teams have star players. Payton will be led by Jabari Chiphe, a strong 6-3 junior that averaged 16 points and seven rebounds.

Westinghouse will return junior Devin Davis. He flew under the radar this season but averaged 24 points and scored 32 against Corliss in the Public League playoffs.

“There are quite a few programs in the White that have history and tradition,” LoGalbo said. “There is talent all over the place in Chicago, the White is so much more competitive than people realize. It did play a part in helping us succeed this season.”