CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. (January 11, 2024) – Opponents are looking at Marian Catholic boys basketball differently, and that means the Spartans have to adjust accordingly.
Marian has established itself as a program on the rise with signature wins this season over Marist and previously unbeaten Brother Rice, earning a spot in the Chicagoland top-25 rankings.
But in their first game of 2024, the Spartans fell behind early and couldn’t recover in a 53-47 East Suburban Catholic loss to Notre Dame on January 5.
“The biggest takeaway is just once you get the opportunity to be ranked, you’ve got to show up and prove you belong,” Marian coach Rick Romeli said. “Every team’s going to treat the game much differently when they see you walk on the court.
“When they say, ‘You’re ranked …’ the mindset has to be a lot different and we just didn’t show up tonight in the first two quarters to prove we’re the better team. And Notre Dame took advantage of that.”
The Spartans (11-6, 4-2 ESCC) were down 8-6 before Notre Dame (9-10, 4-3) ran off 11 straight points to go up 19-6 early in the second quarter. The lead peaked at 19 points, 34-15, at halftime.
Marian didn’t go away, though. The Spartans got within 42-31 after three quarters and a 10-0 run made it 48-43 with 2:30 remaining. It got as close as 50-47 before the Dons closed out the win.
Jonah Weathers led Marian with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. Delan Davis scored 10, James Bullock Jr. added seven points and seven rebounds, and Zack Sharkey contributed seven points and four rebounds.
“I’m proud of the guys in the second half, the way they battled,” Romeli said. “We felt like we could get back in the game and it was obviously going to be tight at that point. We just didn’t execute down at the end of the game offensively or defensively.”
The Spartans shook off the Notre Dame loss the next day, beating Joliet Catholic 73-59 in ESCC action on the road.
Weathers scored a game-high 28 points, Sharkey scored 14, Bullock had 12 points and Davis finished with eight.
Girls basketball
Marian pushed its winning streak to five games with a 58-46 win at Kankakee on Monday.
Alainna Poisson and Taylor Bolton both scored 11 points for the Spartans (17-5) and Ty Jackson had eight points.
Marian went 3-0 on a holiday trip to California, beating Calabasas (Calif.) 61-43 on January 4, defeating Cal Poly 61-44 on January 3 and knocking off Louisville (Calif.) 62-57 on January 2.
Madison Davis scored 24 points, Bolton had eight and Poisson added seven against Calabasas.
Vesta Radziute led the way against Cal Poly with 21 points, including five 3-pointers. Bolton had 14 points and Davis added 13.
Davis scored a game-high 28 points against Louisville, LaParis Poe added 14, Poisson hit three 3-pointers for nine points and Bolton contributed eight.
TF South
Girls basketball
South opened the new year by cruising to a 70-47 road win on Tuesday, moving to 11-9 overall and 3-1 in the South Suburban Blue.
Rayvan Rush averaged 16 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 steals, and an assist over four games, earning all-tournament honors as the Red Wolves finished seventh among 16 teams at the Hillcrest Holiday Classic.
South beat Proviso East 40-30 and lost 54-52 to Bloom on Dec. 27, fell 46-40 to Crete-Monee on December 28 and beat Shepard 37-32 on December 29.
Rush had 17 points, six rebounds, six steals, and two assists vs. Proviso East, while Tiara Croft added seven points and three rebounds.
Rush (27 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists) and Brie Hawthorne (9 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists) led the Red Wolves against Bloom.
Hawthorne (14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) and Rush (14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals) were the leaders against Crete.
Asia Haynes had a team-high 15 points with five rebounds against Shepard, while Rush chipped in with seven points, three rebounds and two steals.
Girls bowling
The Red Wolves moved to 9-0 with a 1,520-1,471 win over Reavis on Tuesday.
South had a balanced effort with series of 315 by Teniola Odutsin, 314 by Dazani Holmes, 313 by Olivia Gifford and 306 by Trinity Kimmons. Gifford’s 192 was the Red Wolves’ high game.
Boys bowling
South finished fourth among seven teams with a 5,316 pinfall in last Saturday’s South Suburban Blue Tournament hosted by TF North.
Two Red Wolves earned all-conference honors: senior Karter Thomas, who was sixth at 1,205 (200.9 average), and freshman Miles Parker, who finished ninth at 1,121 (186.8).
Junior Tristan Headen was next in 19th (1,018) followed by senior Andrew Danehl (993) and junior Christian Headen (979).
Up next for South is the Kankakee Regional at Brookmont Bowling Center on Saturday.
Boys basketball
The Red Wolves opened the 2024 portion of their schedule Tuesday with a 52-45 home loss to Lemont. South is 6-9 overall, 2-2 in the South Suburban Blue.
TF North
Boys basketball
The Meteors tipped off the 2024 portion of their schedule with a 71-64 loss Tuesday at Eisenhower.
Leading North (5-5, 3-1 South Suburban Blue) were Jaylen Blakes with 18 points and seven rebounds, Naiem Evans with 10 points and seven rebounds, and Nasir English with 12 points and four assists.
North went 1-2 in the 16-team Proviso West Holiday Tournament, beating Farragut 54-36 on December 27 before falling 78-52 to Kenwood on December 28 and 44-34 to St. John’s Jesuit (Ohio) on December 29.
Evans paced the Meteors against Farragut with 20 points, five rebounds, eight steals and three blocks. Jamari Littleton had 14 points, seven rebounds and five steals, while Jayden King contributed seven points, three rebounds, and four steals.
Against Kenwood, King scored 11, Blakes had nine points and Dequan Barker finished with seven points.
King scored seven points against St. John’s Jesuit.
Girls basketball
Junior guard Gabrielle McClain and sophomore guard Lauryn Jackson each scored 14 points as the Meteors moved to 10-9 overall and 6-0 in the South Suburban Blue with a 55-26 home win over Eisenhower on Tuesday.
Junior guard Alana Dotson added 11 points for North.
North fell 74-31 to Schaumburg on Saturday in the Grow the Game Showcase at Stevenson. Junior guard Gabrielle McClain led the Meteors with 22 points and four rebounds.
The Meteors opened the Grow the Game Showcase with a 44-38 win on January 5 over Wheeling at Stevenson.
McClain led the way with 18 points and five rebounds.
Boys bowling
The host Meteors had a pinfall of 5,099 to finish fifth among seven teams at last Saturday’s South Suburban Blue Tournament.
North juniors Fernando Rios (11th, 1,108) and Angel Olaguez (12th, 1,107) just missed all-conference honors. Also contributing were junior Caden McLucas (17th, 1,050), junior Aiden Jordan (20th, 1,000) and senior Damarion Spear (tied for 30th, 834).
The Meteors will compete in the Oak Lawn Regional at Palos Lanes on Saturday.
Illiana Christian
Girls basketball
The Vikings won their fourth in a row to move over .500 for the first time this season, beating visiting Bishop Noll 66-30 on Monday.
Cheyenne DeJong scored 21 to lead Illiana (9-8, 5-1 Greater South Shore), while Avery Olthof and Abbie Ritzema each had 12 points and Ella Olthof finished with 10.
Illiana won 63-36 at Bowman on Saturday. Ritzema scored 23 points, DeJong had 12 and Avery Olthof finished with 10.
The Vikings ended their holiday layoff with a 48-34 home win over Whiting on January 4. Ritzema’s 14 points led the way, followed by Avery Olthof with 10. DeJong and Sienna Eenigenburg both scored eight.
Girls wrestling
Gabriella Costello and Amy Bosman are heading to state after advancing out of semistate competition.
Boys swimming
Junior Zack Vervlied won both the events he entered — the 50-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly — during Saturday’s Greater South Shore Conference Meet at Wheeler. Vervlied broke the 11-year-old meet record in the butterfly by nearly four seconds.
South Suburban College
Men’s basketball
The No. 4 Bulldogs beat top-ranked Parkland 95-86 in a matchup of NJCAA Division II powers Tuesday in South Holland.
Sophomore guard Jemel Jones led SSC (16-1), which led by as many as 20 in the second half, with 37 points, nine assists, five rebounds, and four steals. Freshman forward Quentin Heady added 17 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore guard Julius Byrd had 12 points and five assists.
The Bulldogs are 2-0 vs. national No. 1 teams at home during coach John Pigatti’s 18-year tenure.
South Suburban beat another NJCAA Division II-ranked team on Saturday, winning 105-79 at No. 15 Waubonsee.
Jones scored 24 of his 31 points in the first half and grabbed 10 rebounds. Also reaching double figures were Heady (20 points), Byrd (12), Chris Harrison (10), and LeQuan Washington (10).
The Bulldogs opened the new year with an 82-58 win at Southern Michigan on January 3 behind balanced scoring from Jones (21 points), Heady (17), Byrd (12), and Kenton Wright (11).
Related
- Athlete spotlights of the week: TF South’s Karter Thomas, and North’s Gabrielle McClain (January 11, 2024)
- Local scores from Illiana basketball, wrestling; TFS basketball; Marian basketball; SSC basketball (January 3, 2023)
