All Hillcrest coach Tom Cappel could do after his team’s 41-game SICA Central winning streak came to an end Wednesday night, 56-50, against Thornton Fractional North was try and make sense over the events of the last 24 hours
Tuesday night his team gained revenge against No. 2 Lincoln-Way, which knocked them out of the playoffs last season.
T.F. North didn’t seem to care as an 11-2 fourth quarter run led by 6-foot-5-inch junior Brad Hatfield held off the Hawks (13-4, 4-1).
“We wanted to end their streak and build on it,” Hatfield said after scoring eight of his game-high 31 points during that fourth quarter run.
Hatfield also had 11 rebounds.
No. 14 Hillcrest, which led 31-25 at halftime, didn’t go down easily after the Meteors built their biggest lead of the game, 50-43, with 1:57 left in the final quarter.
A three-pointer by Steve Mason and a dunk by Chris Dwyer (12 points) pulled the Hawks within 50-48 with 1:25 left.
A pair of free throws by North’s 6-8 sophomore Geoffrey Moore (nine points) with 1:08 left and another set of charity tosses by Paris Hardamon with 39 seconds remaining held off Hillcrest.
Moore added the exclamation point with a monstrous dunk for the games final points.
“I don’t know what this means to other people but for us it means we’re 6-0 in the conference and in first place all by ourselves,” Meteors coach Rick Runaas said after his team improved to 13-4 overall.
Armon Gates added 14 points for Hillcrest.
“We made Hatfield look like an All-American,” a disappointed Cappel said of his team’s defense on the Meteors’ forward. “We weren’t the same team we were last night.”
Bill Harrison.
Young 71, Crane 53: Andre Knox hit three consecutive three-pointers in an 11-0 run spanning four minutes of the second half in Young’s Red West upset of No. 4 Crane. Ronald Howard added 15 points for the Dolphins (5-8, 2-2). Will Bynum scored 15 points to lead Crane (12-3, 1-2).
Marshall 67, Westinghouse 64: No. 5 Marshall (16-2, 4-0) opened the second half by scoring on eight of its first nine possessions to spark a come-from-behind Public Red West win. Marshall took the lead at 39-38 with 4:53 to go in the third when Justin Bowen scored nine of his 22 points. The Commados trailed 30-21 at halftime.
Westinghouse (9-6, 1-2) was led by Richard Russell’s game-high 27 points and Darren Laye’s 13.
Morgan Park 129, Bowen 38: The seventh-ranked Mustangs (11-3, 3-0) cruised in the Red South as Quinnel Brown and Clarence Kelly scored 19 points apiece.
Julian 69, Simeon 60: Sean Dockery’s fourth-quarter dominance helped keep No. 16 Julian (13-5, 4-0) undefeated in the Public Red South and hand Simeon (9-7, 3-1) its first conference loss.
Dockery, who finished with 20 points, combined nine points, a steal, a rebound and an assist in the fourth quarter. The 6-3 junior guard scored seven straight points to spur a 14-6 spurt midway through the quarter to give Julian a 66-57 advantage. The run came after Simeon scored eight straight, trimming the Jaguars’ lead to 52-50.
“One of our assistant coaches always says to me the fourth quarter should be my quarter,” Dockery said. “I was just trying to prove to him I could do it.”
Curie 59, Manley 55: Paul Nowak hit four three-pointers in the third quarter to rally No. 17 Curie from a 30-23 halftime deficit for the Public Red West win. Nowak finished with 18 points and Rome Sanders helped out with 12. Luther Head and Al Stewart each scored 13 for Manley (11-9, 0-4).
Carver 62, Chicago Vocational 49: Demetrius Coley put in 22 points on five three-pointers and Tanon Lee added 17 to spark Carver (12-4, 2-2) in the Public Red South. Keith Knight’s 18 points led Vocational (10-6, 0-3).
Girls
Gage Park 42, Kennedy 35: Jeanine Starks combined 24 points and 24 rebounds to lift the Owls (10-3, 8-1) in the Public Central.
Hubbard 47, Kenwood 39: Shondra Loggins scored 23 points to go with 10 assists for the Greyhounds (10-3, 7-2) in the Public Blue Central.
Northside Prep 51, Mather 38: Siobhan Pangerl’s 16 points paced Northside (15-1, 9-0) in the Public North.
Phillips 53, Lindblom 43: Ebony Jackson and Paris Finley scored 17 and 13 points respectively for Phillips (9-4, 5-3) in the Public Central.
Providence-St. Mel 62, Madonna 38: Cree Harris and Amber Watson each put in 20 points as the Knights (11-7) rolled.
St. Francis 51, Rosary 41: Meg Boler scored 15 points to lead St. Francis (13-8, 6-2) in the East Suburban Catholic. Jill Krivacek scored 14 points to lead Rosary (10-10, 6-3).
Simeon 57, South Shore 42: Erin Bridges collected 21 points and eight steals and Leslie Chess pitched in with 14 points to lead the Wolverines (17-5, 7-0) in the Public South.
Southside Prep 54, Harper 45: Felicia May scored 26 points to lead Southside (6-5) in the Public South.
