Boys Hoops Wrap | Marist, Oak Lawn have unbeaten weeks; Curie’s win streak snapped by Lindblom

Games played between Jan. 22-27

By Xavier Sanchez
Correspondent

After a week off, Marist got back on track with a week of wins.

The RedHawks (19-4, 7-2 East Suburban Catholic) opened the week with a 70-54 conference win at St. Viator. Darshan Thomas led the charge with 23 points.

Thomas continued his strong play with 17 points and seven rebounds in a 63-48 conference win at Marian Catholic.

The RedHawks’ week ended with at the 2024 Hoop It Up Classic at Perspectives Leadership. Marist defeated Hansberry 87-52 and had four players score in double figures. Stephen Brown and Marquis Vance combined for 43 points, and Vance was named the Juice Hoops Foundation Player of the Game.

Argo (6-18, 1-8 South Suburban Red)

The Argonauts went 0-3 with home losses to Eisenhower (77-57), Reavis (54-51) and Sandburg (68-51). Kassam Saleh led Argo in scoring against Eisenhower with 17 points, and against Sandburg with 15.

Bogan (15-11, 9-0 Chicago Public White Central)

The Bengals got a conference win over Longwood by forfeit on Jan. 23. Devon Nangle hit six 3-pointers and scored 30 points in a 59-47 win over T.F. North at the Chelby Frazier Memorial Shootout at Thornwood on Jan. 28.

Brother Rice (21-3, 6-0 Chicago Catholic Blue)

Brother Rice bounced back after an overtime loss to DePaul Prep with two wins last week. The Crusaders opened the week with a 59-52 road win over St. Francis on Jan. 23, and followed that up with a 67-51 conference win at Fenwick on Jan. 26.

Chicago Christian (7-16, 1-6 Chicagoland Christian)

The Knights went 0-3 last week with conference losses to Bishop McNamara and Wheaton Academy, and a non-conference loss to Peotone.

Curie (22-2, 7-1 Chicago Public Red)

The Condors’ 17-game win streak ended in a 73-66 loss at Lindblom on Jan. 23. Two days later, they erased an 11-point early deficit to defeat Simeon, 60-57, on the road.

Curie’s Mason Minor scored a team-high 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Will Gonzalez added 15 points and grabbed five rebounds.

Taevion Collier scored seven points and pulled down eight rebounds. Collier’s go-ahead basket with 35 seconds to play turned out to be the game-winner.

With the win, Curie gave themselves a share of the Red-South/Central Conference lead. A matchup against Hyde Park scheduled for Jan. 26 was canceled.

De La Salle (14-8, 2-2 Chicago Catholic Blue)

The Meteors defeated St. Francis de Sales, 79-64, on Jan. 23 and duked it out with St. Ignatius for a 62-58 win on Jan. 26. Richard Lindsey had a near double-double with a game-high 23 points, including 12 straight in the third quarter, to go with nine rebounds. Tavariyuan Williams had eight points and four rebounds while sophomore Charles Barnes had 12 points and five boards.

Evergreen Park (16-6, 6-3 South Suburban Red)

The Mustangs split two conference matchups, defeating T.F. North (66-57) and falling to Eisenhower (78-69). Billy Buchanan was the lead scorer in both games with 21 points against the Meteors and 17 against the Cardinals. Lonnie Mosley (16 points), Ulises Cardenas (12 points) and Nolan Sexton (12 points) all scored in double figures in the loss to Eisenhower.

Lyons (8-13, 3-4 West Suburban Silver)

The Lions fell 68-60 in a Jan. 26 matchup at Riverside-Brookfield. Three Lions were in double figures scoring, including a 15-point, eight-rebound performance from Ian Polonowski. Brady Chambers finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in a 55-54 home win against Oswego East.

Morton (3-17, 0-7 West Suburban Gold)

The Mustangs lost to Riverside-Brookfield (50-38) and Willowbrook (66-55).

Mount Carmel (23-3, 5-0 Chicago Catholic Blue)

After their 10-game win streak was snapped by Kenwood on Jan. 20, the Caravan got back on track, but not without difficulty. Cameron Thomas’ double-double (11 points/10 rebounds) helped the Caravan to a 63-50 win over St. Laurence on Jan. 23. Lee Marks finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Senior Night was celebrated with a 50-38 win over St. Rita. Noah Mister led the way with 15 points.

Nazareth (7-13, 2-7 East Suburban Catholic)

The Roadrunner lost a non-conference game to Niles Notre Dame, 45-44.

Oak Lawn (15-6, 7-1 South Suburban Red)

The Spartans beat T.F. South (47-38) and Shepard (70-47) in conference play, and ended the week with a 65-54 victory over Lincoln-Way East at the Lincoln-Way West Warriors Shootout.

Corey Lee led the Spartans with 17 points against T.F. South on Jan. 23, and Jack Dempsey led the way with 18 points against Shepard on Jan. 26. Dontè Montgomery scored a team-high 26 points against East.

Reavis (10-10, 4-5 South Suburban Red)

The Rams dropped a game to Tinley Park (56-44) on Jan. 23 but got the win at arch-rival Argo (54-51) on Jan. 26. Gabe Hernandez scored 16 and Oswaldo Rodriguez scored 14 in the loss to the Titans.

Richards (10-13, 2-6 South Suburban Red)

The Bulldogs started the week by extending their season-best win streak to three games with a 58-47 win at Shepard on Jan. 23. Travon Gourdine had 14 points and Raeshon Edwards scored 10 points. The streak was snapped with a 69-46 conference loss at T.F. North on Jan. 25. Marcus Jennings led Richards with 11 points in the loss.

Riverside-Brookfield (20-3, 4-0 Metro Suburban)

Riverside-Brookfield pushed their win streak to five games with victories over Westmont (67-41), Morton (50-38) and Lyons (68-60). Stefan Cicic averaged 16.7 points with multiple double-doubles for the Bulldogs. Cameron Mercer had two huge performances, collecting 18 points, seven rebounds and five steals against Westmont and scoring a game-high 21 points against Lyons. Steve Brown added 17 points and 11 rebounds in the win over the Lions.

St. Laurence (13-10, 6-0 Chicago Catholic White)

The Vikings opened the week with a 63-50 home loss to Mount Carmel, then defeated Providence-St. Mel, 66-29, for a conference road win on Jan. 25. Despite a 21-point performance from Josh Pickett, St. Laurence fell to Chaminade (Missouri), 51-50, at the Vashon Winter Classic in St. Louis.

St. Rita (1-21, 0-5 CCL Blue)

The Mustangs dropped a non-conference matchup at Marmion on Jan. 23 and a conference game at Mount Carmel on Jan. 26.

Sandburg (12-11, 0-4 SouthWest Suburban Blue)

The Eagles defeated Stagg, 82-78 in overtime, on Jan. 23 then split matchups against Andrew (67-48) and Argo (68-51). David Vargas averaged 16.7 points for the Eagles this week and had a week-high of 21 points against the Chargers.

Shepard (4-17, 0-8 SSC Red)

Shepard Astros dropped a hard-fought home matchup to SSC rival Richards, 58-47, and fell to Oak Lawn, 70-47, on the road. 

Stagg (15-9, 2-1 SouthWest Suburban Red)

The Chargers’ 82-78 overtime loss at Sandburg on Jan. 23 extended their season-worst losing streak to four games. They regrouped with wins over Lockport (52-38) on Jan. 26 and Bradley-Bourbonnais (90-64) on Jan. 27. The Boilermakers were coming off wins over Homewood-Flossmoor and Lincoln-Way East.

Domas Narcevicius led the Chargers with 17 points in the win over the Porters, and dropped 28 points and hit a program-record eight 3-pointers against Bradley. David Ortiz had 18 points in the latter matchup.