Marist had its share of roster changes coming into this basketball season.
Harvard football recruit Achilles Anderson missed the entire year after being hurt on the gridiron, and Stephen Brown missed a chunk of the season, also with an injury suffered during football.
The RedHawks also added some reinforcements with Karson Thomas transferring from Lincoln-Way East and Rokas Zilys arriving from Vermont Academy.
Adding new players can be challenging, especially for a team that has already seen a bit of success with their returners. Marist coach Brian Hynes is proud of his players for how they have handled this transition.
“The hardest thing is accepting roles,” Hynes said. “It says a lot about their character. They just fit in and play together so well.”
“Nobody complained. Everybody understood their role and no one complained,” TJ Tate said.
The result is a season to remember for Marist, which won its own Class 4A regional on Feb. 28 with a 73-60 win against Sandburg. The RedHawks have won back-to-back regional titles for the first time since 2017-2018.
Early on for Marist, Tate pestered the Eagles offense, leading to several steals and baskets. At halftime, the junior point guard was throwing up, leading Hynes to think Tate might have been injured.
Turns out, he celebrated his birthday with a pregame meal at Chipotle. He shook it off and finished the evening with a season-high 20 points and five steals.
“He’s really, really quick,” Hynes said. “We played well when we were playing fast in transition. I saw his steals, but I did not know he had 20 points until after the game.”
Thomas came off the bench for the RedHawks and finished with 14 points, including a dunk in the first half that fired up the Marist fans.
“Coming off the bench, you have to give the team energy,” Thomas said. “You have to do the little things. It was pretty cool to get the crowd involved, too, and give us a little boost.”
Senior Marquis Vance had a double-double in the win, finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Sandburg chipped away at their deficit all night long and got within nine points after a 3-pointer by Malachi Perkins in the fourth quarter.
“They are a really good team, but I thought the kids played hard,” Sandburg coach John Daniels said. “We were in the game, we never faded away.”
Zilys finished with 11 points including a pivotal 3-pointer with 4:25 seconds that seemed to shift things the RedHawks’ way for good.
The Eagles (16-17) were led by Jonah Johnson with 15 points and five rebounds. Will Johnson, Daniel Morakinyo and Perkins each had 12 points a piece.
All four Eagles are sophomores and have two more years.
Daniels was proud of his team and the growth from the start of the season to this final game.
“I am so proud of them,” Daniels said. “The kids worked hard. They got better.
“Even at the end of the season, we finished the season with a four-game losing streak. It would’ve been easy to fold, but they came back.”
Marist finished the season 19-0 at home.
“It’s such a special group,” Hynes said. “Of course we want to win the regional, but we want to be able to spend another day together.”