When Darrion Baker entered eighth grade, he was 5-foot-8.
When he entered high school at St. Rita, he was up to 6-6.
Now, he’s in his second year playing at Hillcrest, and the 6-8 senior is working on becoming an all-around power forward for the Hawks.
“I started feeling some growing pains,” Baker said. “But as I grew more and more, I used it to my advantage.”
Baker used it to his advantage Friday afternoon in the Chicago Heights Classic.
He scored 21 points and parlayed that foot-long growth into a few showtime-worthy dunks in helping Hillcrest beat host Marian Catholic 57-46 in the championship game.
It was the second straight Chicago Heights Classic title for the Hawks (4-0) and the third straight runner-up finish for Marian (3-1).
Since the end of last season and throughout the summer with Team Rose, Baker was besieged with college offers, with 13 coming in a two-week window.
After taking other visits to Wofford, Northern Illinois and Cal State Fullerton, he committed in August to Akron. The Zips are led by former Illinois coach John Groce.
“My relationship with the team and the coaches was really good,” Baker said of Akron. “They supported me a lot. They came to all of my tournaments in the summer.
“They were interested in me and I was interested in them, so it’s a mutual thing.”
Baker, who joined teammates Quentin Heady and Bryce Tillery on the all-tournament team, added seven rebounds and four steals in Friday’s championship game.
“His mind is starting to catch up to his body,” Hillcrest coach Don Houston said of Baker. “He’s a heck of a player. He plays well all-around and he can shoot the three, but we didn’t need that.”
After getting down 40-29 against Bloom in a Wednesday night tournament semifinal, the Hawks outscored the Trojans 27-13 for a 56-53 win and then jumped to a 30-16 halftime lead Friday.
“That the way I want us to play all of the time,” Houston said.
Marian closed the gap to six points late in the game twice, but Hillcrest hung on.
The Hawks were playing without two players who were suspended for a fight in the Bloom game, according to Houston.
Missing a pair of starters who had the flu, Marian was led by Quentin Jones’ 22 points, including 17 in the second half.
“We couldn’t get into a flow early and we’re having trouble scoring,” Marian coach Mike Taylor said. “But this is a good thing for us as we had a chance to see what other kids can do and we came back.
“Quentin got a little mad and got aggressive, but we need others to score for us.”
Jones joined teammates James Bullock and Donovan Juzang, Bloom’s Jordan Brown and Jayden Watson, Homewood-Flossmoor’s Vincent Davis, Rich Township’s Samar Bures, T.F. South’s Romello Ali and Lincoln-Way Central’s Jack Barrett on the all-tournament team.
Houston was happy with the final verdict in the tournament. He wanted to see what his team had after two starters transferred.
“They went through a lot of stuff mentally,” Houston said of his team. “We lost kids and people were thinking we wouldn’t be as competitive. But they stepped up and did the job to win this.”
Baker also was impressed with the way the Hawks finished the tournament after the subpar first half against Bloom.
“We had to encourage each other and bring each other up,” he said. “I was trying to lead by example. We won a championship, so we can’t really complain.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be a breeze playing a championship game on their home floor.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
