Michael O’Brien’s high school basketball notebook

Games at Brother Rice almost never disappoint. If you’ve never been to one, get it on your list.

And this would be a great season to check it out, because the Crusaders have a fun team and fun lead guard in Niagara recruit Ahmad Henderson.

He did everything he possibly could to take down St. Rita tonight, scoring 28 points, but the Mustangs just have too many weapons for most high school teams to counter.

I assume there are still St. Rita doubters out there. It may be a long winter for them as the Mustangs continue rounding into shape. Morez Johnson was a monster once again, he plays tremendously hard and is just all over the court.

Lets get right into tonight’s action. There were a lot of fun results from all over the area, setting us up for a major two days at the Team Rose Classic at Mount Carmel.

Friday’s top games

Thornton 49, Rich 44: Well, look at this. I expected it to be kind of a long season for Tai Streets and the Wildcats but maybe not. Vincent Rainey scored 16 points and sophomore Jordan Maple scored 11. I don’t believe there was even a sophomore on the roster when I was out in Harvey on Tuesday night. Perhaps Maple was just called up to varsity.

Andrew 51, Lockport 37: This was a highlight tweet that surprised me It’s the first win against Lockport that the Thunderbolts have had in nine years. Crazy. I had no idea the Porters were dominating this matchup to that extent. Athan Berchos scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter to lead Andrew and Austin Kulig added 10 points.

Kenwood 58, Knoxville Catholic 47: The Broncos beat a Tennessee team in Atlanta. Dai Dai Ames scored 24, Tyler Smith had 13 and Calvin Robins turned in 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Broncos are still unbeaten. Knoxville Catholic was 7-0 heading into this one.

Lincoln-Way East 78, Bradley 46: A big night for the freshman. BJ Powell led the Griffins with 17 points. George Bellevue added 12 and Josh Janowski scored 11.

Naperville North 74, DeKalb 71 3 OT: The game of the night. Junior Luke Williams scored 35 points. He’s a great athlete that impressed me during football season. Looking forward to checking the Huskies out this season. Bryce Welch scored 18. Waubonsie Valley was pretty good on Wednesday...maybe the DVC will wind up to be sneaky solid this season?

Francis Parker 52, Latin 48: This is a game that I always want to see but it’s on a Friday night so it never quite works out. I believe they play it at DePaul every season. Caleb David led the Colonels with 25 points and Payton Pitts added 10 points and five assists.

Romeoville 75, Plainfield Central 45: Meyoh Swansey entered the season as one of those players everyone expected to have a breakout season. Well, it is happening. He had 29 points and five rebounds. Troy Cicero added 10 points and seven assists.

Marian Catholic 73, Joliet Catholic 52: The Spartans bounce back again. Mike Taylor’s group is clearly still figuring things out this season. Quentin Jones scored 15 and James Bullock added 13. Excited to get my first look at Marian this weekend.

Marmion 64, De La Salle 47: An eye-opener here for sure. It might be time to add Marmion to my notebook of teams I’m tracking. This makes them 5-3. Jabe Haith had 22 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. That’s a game. Collin Wainscott added 21 points and seven assists and Trevon Roots finished with nine points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

Bloom 75, Hammond Bishop Noll 41: Rae Harris had 12 points and 10 assists for the Blazing Trojans. Jordan Brown and sophomore Payton Edwards each added 11 points. I’m not an Indiana expert but isn’t this where Jaedin Reyna wound up?

St. Ignatius 48, Leo 42: Closer than expected. Leo’s basically starting from scratch after losing most of its team. Richard Barron scored 12 for the Wolfpack.

Marist 48, St. Viator 43: Brother Rice vs. Marist used to a must-see and it could be again this season. Kaden White scored 17 and Mason Ross added 10 points.

New Trier 52, Glenbrook South 46: Nice win for the Trevians in the Titan Dome. Jake Fiegen scored 20 points. Phil Ralston’s basically brand new squad is playing everyone tough. Keep an eye on them over the next few months.

Lane 67, Perspectives-MSA 54: Parker Williams scored a career-high 18 points and sophomore big Dalton Scantlebury added 15.

Beecher 72, Grant Park 43: The Bobcats played this game in their old gym. Every school with an old gym should do this once a year, seems like a fun idea. Junor Adyn McGinley is on a tear this season, he finished with 24 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Everyone can tell I want to go back to see Momence vs. Beecher again this year, right?

Farragut 86, North Lawndale 80: Obviously the Kenwood-Young thing is fun right now but at this point the Admirals vs. the Phoenix might be one of the best remaining rivalries in the Public League. Jonathan Calmese scored 26 and Eric Powell added 18 points.

Loyola 42, Fenwick 27: Impressive spread for the Ramblers against a solid but very young Friars group.

Metea Valley 60, Waubonsie Valley 54 OT: Whoa, another DVC thriller. Metea Valley returns an awful lot from last year and was a team I had my eye on. Based on what I saw from the Warriors this week I’m confident that Metea Valley is playing well if it grabbed this win.

Lincoln-Way West 69, Homewood-Flossmoor 67 OT: This doesn’t happen very often. Not sure it even happened back in the Marco Pettinato days.

Jackson-Reed, D.C. 66, Young 65: The Dolphins lose on the road. Dalen Davis scored 22.