At 6-2, St. Laurence junior forward Markese Peoples knows he can push opponents around a little bit in the post with his strength and physicality.
But as he looks to college hoops, he knows he won’t necessarily have that advantage.
So Peoples has put plenty of time in over the offseason making sure his overall game is stronger than ever.
He finished with seven points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals on Dec. 16 as host St. Laurence defeated St. Rita 68-37 in a Catholic League crossover.
“I’ve worked on coming out on the perimeter more,” Peoples said. “I’m mainly a post player, but with my height at the next level, I won’t be in the post. So for me, my game is trying to play more outside.”
Sophomore Noah Corro led St. Laurence with 22 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Also contributing were juniors Reggie Stevens (12 points) and Sean Rice (six rebounds) and sophomores Logan Brown (12 points, seven rebounds) and Jeremiah Toney (seven points).
Peoples and Stevens were key players last season in a senior-dominated rotation as St. Laurence advanced to a Class 3A sectional final.
Now, Peoples is ready to help lead.
“I’m trying to pick everyone up on the team,” Peoples said. “We don’t have a lot of seniors. You pick the team up and help us win.”
Peoples is a bit of a basketball unicorn in that he can do everything really well across the board.
Peoples said he lost 10-plus pounds over the offseason, replacing some baby fat with muscle.
“I’m having fun (playing),” Peoples said. “What’s clicked is we’ve come together as a team. What we need to keep working on is talking and coming together more as a team. We’re young. People like to say young teams make young mistakes, but we’re going to pick this up and come out hard.”
St. Laurence coach Roshawn Russell said he loves what Peoples brings to the court.
“Markese is very fun to watch,” Russell said. “To me, he’s the most unguardable player in high school. I’m very happy he’s on our side. If anyone hasn’t seen him play, I highly recommend coming out to see him play.”
St. Laurence led 38-20 at halftime.
St. Rita coach Jim Sexton was disappointed in his team’s effort as the Mustangs fell behind early and couldn’t get back into the game.
“We were defeated as soon as we walked onto the court today,” Sexton said. “That team is not 30 points better than us. They’re young and very talented. We struggled from the free-throw line. We’ve had wins that should build confidence, but it’s really frustrating.”
Sexton, the former St. Laurence and Evergreen Park coach, is in his first year at St. Rita.
The Mustangs posted nice wins over Fenwick and IC Catholic early but have struggled to hold that momentum.
Sophomore Eze Nwagwu, who hit a buzzer-beater to knock off Fenwick, led the Mustangs against St. Laurence, scoring nine points.
“We play better when we’re at home,” Sexton said. “Our guys aren’t ready to play on the road. We’ve struggled with teams that play with any type of speed. IC and Fenwick were a little slower-paced and we matched up better.”