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44 | February 7, 2019 | The tinley junction sports tinleyjunction.com BOYS BASKETBALL <strong>TP</strong>HS puts Illiana’s homecoming in Dyer straits PHIL ARVIA, Freelance Reporter As a team looking for an energy boost, Tinley Park couldn’t have picked a better school to visit Friday, Feb. 1, than Illiana Christian. The Dyer, Ind., school, after operating since 1945 in south suburban Lansing, was celebrating its first homecoming in its new location. Yes, homecoming. Illiana has no football program. “It was a first for me,” Tinley Park coach DJ Brown said. “I love the atmosphere. We haven’t been in an atmosphere like this since we played for the sectional title [in 2008].” Illiana’s gym was filled nearly to its capacity of 2,000. The crowd was roaring almost constantly throughout a 75-72 Tinley Park when. The exception was when the Titans burst out of the blocks to a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter. Christian Hooker, on his way to a game-high 22 points, made three 3-pointers in the run. “It was fun,” he said. “We were ready to go out there and make their crowd go quiet.” The Titans (12-7) never lost the lead while snapping a three-game losing streak. But the Vikings (12-6) didn’t go down easily. Illiana cut the lead to three points in the second quarter only to see Tinley Park, sparked by senior reserve Matt Joren’s back-to-back 3s, push its advantage to 11 two minutes later. A 16-point advantage with 6:44 to play was trimmed to two at 3:24, but Mario Lawrence (20 points, 12 assists) and Yitonis Nash (8 points, 11 rebounds) combined to go 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the final three minutes as the Titans refused to fold. “The difference tonight versus the last few games was the pace of play,” Brown said. “We play better when we play fast. Pace dictated results, and the atmosphere helped pace.” Freestyle The Titans came into the Illiana game shooting 63 percent from the free throw line. They made just two of their first 10 attempts against the Vikings. Yet Lawrence, a 61-percent shooter on the season, who made just one of his four attempts earlier in the game, was 6-for-6 in the fourth quarter. How? “To be honest, I was singing a song in my head,” he said. “It kind of zoned everything out, actually. It took all the voices out of my head.” The song, “Crazy Story” by Chicago rapper King Von, isn’t on Brown’s playlist. But talking to his team about free throws is on repeat. “We don’t shoot a lot of free throws,” he said. “Against Oak Forest last week, they were 15-of-22 and we were 4-of-7 from the line. You can’t win lot of games shooting seven free throws. Our goal is to shoot more free throws than the other team makes.” Against Illiana, the Titans were 10-of-19 while the Vikings were 16-of-19. Super sub Prior to the Illiana contest, Joren, a 6-foot-3 swingman, had gotten into 12 games and scored a total of 16 points — most of those with the final outcome all but determined. In Dyer, he was the second Titan off the bench and his pair of 3s midway through the second quarter were a key to Tinley taking an eight-point lead into intermission. “I came in, it was 23-20, I made two 3s, it was 29-20,” he said. “I’m confident. I’m ready to shoot whenever. “It does feel good to make an impact. The crowd was psyching me up a little — it was like the Andrew game. We love crowds. And their fan section was talking a little smack, so that hyped us up.” One for the kids This is Tinley Park’s 57th school year. The year after the school opened, the Titans started a freshman basketball tournament. “That was the appeal, I think,” Tinley Park coach DJ Brown said. “Let’s start this tournament for freshmen because our student body is so young.” The appeal has evolved. When the 56th edition of the tournament takes place Tinley Park’s Christian Hooker, shown in the game earlier this season, had a trio of 3-pointers in a 14-0 run in the Titans’ win at Illiana Christian. JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA February 16 and 17, it will be a major piece of the fundraising for the Titans’ boys program. “It helps us out quite a bit,” Brown said. “We’ve really built it up as a fundraising opportunity for the program.” The 16-team event has public and private schools, along with, Brown said, a waiting list 10 to 12 teams long. “It’s a great way for the freshman teams to conclude their season,” Brown said. Tinley’s varsity players work the event, running concessions, selling raffle tickets and helping out the sponsors by handing out marketing materials and the like. “It’s a fundraiser for us, but it’s also an opportunity for local businesses to raise their profile,” Brown said. “We publicize them on social media, put them on the marquee in the gym, and vendors set up tables and booths in the hallway for spectators to visit throughout the weekend.” This year’s sponsors include Southwest Synergy Dance, NuMark Credit Union, Bob Haustein Remax, CNB Bank, Porte Brown LLC and Chiro One Wellness Center. They’re just part of Brown’s yearround fundraising efforts to keep his program in uniforms and warmups that don’t embarrass status-conscious teens. “Parents might think, ‘the school foots the bill,’” Brown said. “But the reality is every four years we’ll get some money for uniforms. Fundraising makes up the difference.” In addition to the freshman tourney, Brown sells candy in his classroom year-round and has found some other ways to generate revenue for the program that largely don’t include his players. “I like the kids to be able to concentrate on school and basketball, not, ‘hey, are you selling this?’” Brown said. “I’ve kind of taken the approach that it’s my program, it’s my responsibility. It’s a year-round thing, and you have to be creative, but it’s one less thing for the kids to worry about.” Up next The Titans’ next game is 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at T.F. North. The Meteors carried a record of 12-8, 5-2 into their Friday, Feb. 1 contest with Oak Forest. THIS WEEK IN TITANS VARSITY ATHLETICS BOYS BASKETBALL ■Feb. ■ 8 – at Thornton Fractional North, 6:30 p.m. ■Feb. ■ 13 – at Thornton Fractional South, 7 p.m. WRESTLING ■Feb. ■ 8-9 IHSA Individual Sectional, TBA GIRLS BASKETBALL ■Feb. ■ 7 – at Oak Forest, 7 p.m. ■Feb. ■ 11-15 - IHSA Regional, TBA GIRLS BOWLING ■Feb. ■ 9 - IHSA Sectional, TBA THUNDERBOLTS VARSITY ATHLETICS BOYS BASKETBALL ■Feb. ■ 8 – hosts Bradley, 6:30 p.m. WRESTLING ■Feb. ■ 8-9 - IHSA Individual Sectional, TBA GIRLS BASKETBALL ■Feb. ■ 11-15 IHSA Regional, TBA GIRLS BOWLING ■Feb. ■ 9 - IHSA Sectional, TBA GIRLS GYMNASTICS ■Feb. ■ 7 – IHSA Sectional, TBA
tinleyjunction.com sports the tinley junction | February 7, 2019 | 45 Cold shooting contagious for Bolts against Thornwood TIM YONKE, Freelance Reporter It’s no secret that the Andrew High School boys basketball team has had its problems this season shooting the ball. It was never more evident than in the Thunderbolts’ lone game last week at Thornwood on Friday, Feb. 1. In a 52-34 loss to the Thunderbirds, Andrew missed all of its shots in the opening quarter, which ended with a 9-0 Thornwood lead. The score was 15-0 before a fastbreak layup by Aiden Stunka finally put the T-Bolts on the board with 3:23 left in the second quarter. Andrew trailed 19-6 at intermission. “We just didn’t score,” Andrew coach Dave Wilson said. “Sometimes when one guy’s hot another guy picks it up and gets hot and it becomes contagious. We were contagious the other way. We weren’t shooting well. Nothing was going down. We were missing layups, missing threes ... just an avalanche effect.” The T-Bolts were finally able to slow the avalanche in the second half. A big reason for that was junior guard Nivek Wilson, who scored a game-high 19 points, all in the last two quarters. “In the first half he wasn’t playing with the amount of confidence I wanted from him. That’s been a conversation we’ve had all year,” said Dave Wilson. “We had a little discussion at halftime. He knew our expectations coming out in the second half and he responded. An aggressive Nivek is a good Nivek. Sometimes we just have to give him a little push.” Despite another tough defeat, Wilson was able to see some positives. “I thought our defensive effort was there. I liked our energy in both halves. We held them to 19 points in the first half and cause some turnovers in the second half,” he said. However, Andrew had its own troubles handling the ball, finishing with 25 turnovers. “We did struggle with ball security,” Wilson said. “It’s hard to replicate [Thornwood’s] speed and size in practice. So we try to do that as best we can. Sometimes we’re able to handle it and sometimes we’re not. It just so happened it came at the same time when we weren’t making shots. If we’re making shots it sort of takes the pressure off.” Wilson looked beyond the scoreboard when talking about his team. “The only thing that makes me appreciate the game at the end of the day is that they competed. The ball’s not going in, they’re throwing the ball all over the gym and they didn’t fight with each other. They knew their assignments defensively. They were still closing out, still boxing out,” he remarked. “I would be more concerned if they became unraveled as a team because it wasn’t going our way. “It hasn’t gone our way all year and they’re still together. That’s all I can hope for at this point.” Amoranto injured With 4:57 left in the second quarter, the T-Bolts lost starting point guard Jolo Amoranto to a knee injury. The sophomore laid on the court in pain as the game continued on for nearly 10 seconds. Wilson screamed for the game to be stopped and was given a technical foul for yelling at the referees. “[Amoranto] said one of the defenders slid into him. He heard it pop so we wanted to make sure he didn’t go back in and make it worse,” Wilson said. “We’re going to communicate on how he’s feeling and get a game plan together going forward.” Amoranto was coming off scoring a team-high 13 points in the T-Bolts previous game, a 51-38 loss against Lincoln-Way West. Lack of practice The T-Bolts, like many other schools, weren’t able to practice much last week because of the weather. Andrew was closed for two days because of the cold weather. Thornwood also didn’t have school on Friday because of a problem with its school buses. Andrew, which played just two games over 10 days, is scheduled to play three games in four days capped off with a home game on Friday, Feb. 8, against Bradley-Bourbonnais. VOTING OPEN Jan. 17–Feb. 10! 22 ND CENTURY MEDIA Southwest AWARDS presented by Vote: 22ndCenturyMedia.com/swchoice Complete at least 50 categories and be eligible to win a $500 Mastercard gift card! Vote now for your favorite local businesses in more than 130 categories including: Bank Doctor Grocery Store Hair Salon Movie Theater Pizza and more! Andrew’s Nivek Wilson, shown in a game earlier this season, scored 19 second-half points in a loss to Thornwood on Friday, Feb. 1. JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA Look for the ballot in the center of this newspaper or vote online through Feb. 10 at 22ndCenturyMedia.com/swchoice
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