Michael O’Brien’s high school basketball notebook

After watching Loyola’s overtime win against St. Viator I went home and took advantage of the plethora of high school available on television and online. Two big results with Young winning against St. Louis Christian Brothers at the Highland Shootout and Marian Catholic knocking off Morgan Park 71-67.

It was definitely the best game I’ve ever seen Ahron Ulis play. He had 34 points, was tremendous. Spartans trailed by 10 late in the third quarter. Elijah Jones had a key block late in the fourth quarter. Marian Catholic proves it is a total load when it is playing its best.

I had really high hopes for the Spartans in the preseason. It’s been an up and down two weeks for them, with a blowout loss to Waubonsie Valley and then this big win.

The rankings will be interesting tomorrow.

Saturday’s top games

No. 9 Young 66, St. Louis Christian Brothers 64: Major win for the Dolphins against highly-touted Caleb Love. DJ Steward scored 40 in a Player of the Year caliber performance and result. Tyler Beard added 13. Love finished with 19 for CBC.

St. Louis Vashon 79, Simeon 72: Cam’Ron Fletcher is something else, we saw that last year at the Chicago Elite Classic. He scored 26. Ahamad Bynum led Simeon with 26.

Hinsdale South 67, Conant 39: Big margin for the Hornets. Billy Durkin made five three-pointers and scored 22. Aaron Tims added 15.

Orr 78, Proviso East 53: The new-look Spartans win again. Demarius Splunge had a double-double with 14 and 11. Bryce Hall and Norvell Meadows also added 14 points.

Hyde Park 75, St. Joseph 62: Senior Zach Miller stepped up with 17 points and eight rebounds and junoir Jalen Houston added 15.

Lyons 62, Proviso West 55: Grant Niego continued his big season with 22 and Michael Nierdermeyer added 14.

No. 10 Mundelein 65, Willowbrook 58: The Mustangs bounce back from the loss to Stevenson. Trey Baker led the way with 17 points and Conor Enright added 16 points and six assists.

Brooks 58, No. 25 Oak Lawn 56: What a win for the Eagles. Junior Chaz Harvey made a jumper with three seconds left to win it. He finished with 16 and Isaiah Tolbert added 13 points and 10 assists.

No. 20 Fenwick 72, St. Patrick 66: The Friars bounce back from last night’s loss to Leo. Trey Pettigrew made seven three-pointers and scored 28. Bryce Hopkins had 27 points and 16 rebounds.

No. 14 Glenbrook South 60, Palatine 54: Dom Martinelli and the Spartans win this battle of bigs. Martinelli scored 29 and Cooper Noard added 20.

Hinsdale Central 60, Oswego East 58: Check out the Red Devils. Connor Nelson scored 14 and Ryan Isaacson and Charlie Sessa each scored 13. Really nice win for Hinsdale. Sam Schultz had 19 points and 10 boards for the Wolves.