OP_071218

46 | July 12, 2018 | The orland park prairie sports
opprairie.com
BOYS BASKETBALL
Sandburg hopes summer finish will help in winter
JEFF VORVA, Sports Editor
When is comes to summer
high school basketball, not
many coaches put stock in
wins and losses.
Some coaches, such as
Sandburg’s boys boss Todd
Allen, cram a lot of games
into June to see just what
they will have down the line
in November and by the time
the month ends, some players
are dragging and looking
for a break.
That said, the way the
Eagles closed camp a few
weeks ago was uplifting.
With five minutes left in a
home game against Rich
South to close out the camp,
Sandburg trailed by six after
going on a cold shooting
spell. But the Eagles heated
up as junior-to-be Atharva
Atreya nailed a pair of
3-pointers and added a layup
for put his team ahead and
the Eagles went on to win,
70-59.
“We lost 11 seniors so we
really only have three seniors
coming back,” Allen
said. “It’s a lot of learning
and a lot of growing. I know
it sounds kind of cliche’
but when we’ve been able
to make some shots, we’ve
been pretty good. We have
some decent athletes. We
have some quickness. We
have some size we were developing.”
Allen didn’t keep track of
the wins and losses this summer
but guessed the squad
was above .500 with quality
wins over Neuqua Valley
and a team from Indiana.
“This is just for kids to
get better,” he said. “We’re
evaluating kids and watching
them. You let everybody
play. And you try to get
better each and every day.
We don’t worry too much
about wins and losses. With
this group and how young
we are, this is the first time
they have seen varsity-level
basketball and it’s an adjustment
for some of them.
There is a lot of growing and
maturing and getting better.”
Twin seniors Marvin and
Kevin Agwomoh figure to
bring in some leadership after
the graduation of standouts
Sami Ismail, Jake and
Jason Pygon and Kevin Mc-
Shane.
“We had some ups and
downs this summer,” Marvin
Agwomoh said. “Kevin
and I are the only seniors
that played a lot last year. We
have some juniors who did
not see the floor as sophomores
so we’ve helped them
out. Through it all, we have
gotten better.”
Last year, the Eagles
roared out to an 8-1 record
but finished 16-11.
The Eagles open the 2018-
19 campaign on Nov, 19 at
the Reavis/Oak Lawn Tournament
against Bremen.
They have non-conference
games against Lemont, Andrew,
St. Ignatius, Eisenhower
and will return to the
Jack Tosh Tournament at
York in late December.
Todd Allen and Sandburg’s boys basketball team will be relying heavily on juniors when the season starts in November.
PHOTOS BY JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
Senior-to-be Marvin Agwomoh is a senior who will provide leadership for
Sandburg next season.
Atharva Atreya showed some explosive scoring abilities for Sandburg in
the summer.