King can’t turn back the clock, but the Jaguars proved Friday night that there isn’t much they can’t do.
After losing in the city playoffs the last two years and watching Proviso East win state titles they thought belonged to them, the Jaguars got a chance to meet up with Proviso East before 13,429 at Assembly Hall.
But the long-anticipated match fizzled out in the second quarter. King’s two 7-footers-Thomas Hamilton and Rashard Griffith-took control and helped deal Proviso an 82-54 defeat in the Class AA quarterfinals.
“We knew they could not win unless we let Kenny Davis go wild on us,” King coach Landon “Sonny” Cox said.
DeWarren Stewart helped hold Davis to 15 points, and without many points from the outside, the outsized Pirates were doomed. King (30-0) shot 68.8 percent and outrebounded Proviso 38-24.
“It was more fun last year,” Proviso coach Bill Hitt said.
King is trying to become the 16th unbeaten state champion in Illinois history and the third in four years. The others were Cox’s 1990 squad and last year’s Proviso East team.
King will play Danville at 12:45 p.m. Saturday in the day’s second semifinal game. King is a heavy favorite.
Proviso East lost by 25 points earlier in the season to Philadelphia Simon Gratz, the top-ranked team in the USA Today poll, with King ranked No. 2.
Hitt wavered when asked which team was stronger, then said, “I don’t usually agree with Sonny, but he might make a case on this one.”
King went up by as much as 23 points in the third quarter, but Proviso East refused to quit until the batteries were dead.
Davis and sophomore Fred Dentis hit back-to-back threes midway through the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 17, but that was as close as the Pirates got the rest of the way.
Davis and Ray Gay, the only remaining regulars from Proviso’s two championship teams, came out of the lineup together with 2 minutes 25 seconds left, ending their distinguished careers at the Maywood school.
The pregame introductions gave fans a hint of what was to follow. When the players were introduced, Proviso’s Gay and Kevin Jones went out to midcourt to shake hands with their opponents, Hamilton and Griffith. But the King players ignored them, and the two Pirates simply waved their hands in disgust.
Cox had shown disrespect for the defending champions with several unflattering comments before the game. The King players were following his lead with their pregame snubs.
King’s post defense was working early in the game, when the Jaguars’ height forced Proviso to miss five of its first six shots. King’s starting lineup averaged 6 feet 7 inches to Proviso’s 6-1. Griffith took advantage of the mismatches by blocking back-to-back shots by Davis and Gay in the opening minutes.
Griffith, Hamilton and Stewart scored 18 apiece for King, and Griffith added five blocks and eight rebounds.
Proviso East (25-6) settled down halfway through the first quarter. When Davis nailed a three-pointer with 3:18 left, the Pirates had an 11-7 lead. They still led by one going into the second, then hit only three of 12 shots to fall behind 34-23 at the half.
Despite the 11-point deficit, Hitt opted to stall in the final 1 1/2 minutes of the half, hoping for one shot. Jones missed on a short jumper, and the Pirates went in to regroup.
It didn’t work.
After shooting 36.7 percent in the first half, Proviso missed five of its first six shots in the third quarter. Hamilton put in a finger roll and a layup off a Ronald Minter pass and Stewart knocked down an 18-footer, and the end of Proviso East’s reign was all but complete.
Proviso East was the seventh team in state history to win back-to-back titles. The Pirates were trying to become the fourth team to play in three consecutive title games; the others were Thornton in 1933-35, Champaign in 1945-47 and East St. Louis Lincoln in 1987-89.
