Surprisingly, these showdowns weren’t even close.
Schaumburg and King entered Saturday afternoon’s Class AA semifinals at Carver Arena as favorites and came away shaking their heads after Warren’s precision passing game dissected Schaumburg 69-53 and St. Joseph’s Brandon Watkins led the Chargers to a 59-40 triumph over No. 1 King.
Watkins has become the “Fourth Quarter Kid” in this tournament after scoring 20 points in the final quarter of St. Joe’s 66-61 victory over East St. Louis on Friday and following up with 12 fourth-quarter points on Saturday.
“It’s like there’s something telling me that it’s time to take over,” Watkins said.
His late heroics enabled the Chargers to outscore King 24-7 in the fourth quarter. Watkins led St. Joe with 23 points while Leon Smith paced King with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Behind 15 points apiece from Jourdain Milot and Ricky Higgins, Warren broke out to a 46-30 lead after three quarters and coasted in.
“Warren is in the championship game because they bring it to you at both ends of the floor,” Schaumburg coach Bob Williams said. “We got it handed to us today.”
Consolation: In his final high school game, King’s 6-foot-10-inch Smith had 20 points and 13 rebounds in leading King (28-7) to a 67-58 victory over Schaumburg (28-4) in the third-place game. The seven losses represents the most in coach Landon Cox’s 18 years. Stanley Thomas backed up Smith with 17 points while Imari Sawyer finished with 10 points and nine assists. Steve Schrandt led Schaumburg with 19 points and Antoine McDaniel added 10.
Farewell: Saturday marked the final state tournament for 21-year Illinois High School Association executive Don Robinson, who requested that the state association not send him off with a special ceremony. “This will be like trying to replace (ex-North Carolina coach) Dean Smith,” IHSA executive director Dave Fry said. “His credibility is top-notch, and he has been so consistent that he earned the respect of everybody throughout the state.” Robinson’s replacement is Dave Gannaway.
Withdrawal: Dunbar coach Fate Mickel said he wants to join Westinghouse in pulling out of the Proviso West Holiday Classic because of financial reasons. “I made the decision last month after our school got a check for just $500 after playing three games,” Mickel said. “I hope they let us out of the contract I signed. I’ll be happy just playing in the Public League’s Christmas tournament.” Proviso West tournament director Joe Spagnolo said he expects Westinghouse and Dunbar to honor their contractual obligation.
