North Lawndale coach Carlos Toliver knew Wednesday’s recreation in opposition to Farragut was going to require a particular contact.
The Phoenix and Admirals final matchup, again in March within the Class 3A state playoffs, was stopped late within the fourth quarter after a brawl involving each groups and followers. Most of the gamers had been underclassmen, so they’re again this season.
Toliver made positive to not amp his gamers up an excessive amount of earlier than the sport.
“I tried to downplay the game as much as I could,” Toliver mentioned. “They are still kids and there was a lot of hype around it. The first half was not a good half for us but I knew once we got the jitters out and I had a chance to talk to them at halftime we would come out and play some good basketball.”
North Lawndale beat visiting Farragut 76-67 and the sport completed with out incident. The groups and coaches met a number of days earlier than the sport to verify every thing would proceed easily and directors from each faculties and Chicago Public Schools had been in attendance.
“It makes me feel so good that the game went well and this is behind us now,” Toliver mentioned. “What happened is not North Lawndale basketball. That is not what we live for. We are here to play basketball, not all that nonsense. That really broke my heart. I felt helpless when I saw [the brawl] happening. I was really looking forward to this game to show the city that we can play basketball. I have a lot of respect for [Farragut coach William Nelson] and all of their players. I know them all personally. I wanted both teams to show the city that we can play good basketball and have good sportsmanship, no matter who wins or loses.”
Farragut (0-3, 0-3 Red/North-West) jumped out to a 20-7 lead and led 37-32 at halftime. The Admirals are massive and robust and proficient however they aren’t deep. Nelson says there are solely about 500 college students enrolled at Farragut. He now not has a freshman or sophomore workforce. The varsity roster lists 13 gamers and Nelson performed simply six within the first half and 7 within the second.
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“Our rotation is short,” Nelson mentioned. “We started well. Sometimes they lose a bit of focus when they get tired and start missing free throws. Our conditioning needs to get better.”
The Phoenix (6-1, 3-0) ran away from the Admirals within the second half. Jamar Wilkins scored 17 factors and grabbed 10 rebounds and junior Daequan Davis added 16 factors and 7 rebounds.
“Jamar Wilkins is the rock,” Toliver mentioned. “We are going to go as far as he takes us. Bringing him back this year I felt comfortable we could win any game.”
North Lawndale out-rebounded Farragut 47-38. Nelson’s groups are historically among the many metropolis’s greatest at rebounding.
“I told the guys at halftime that we had to come out and crush them on the boards,” Toliver mentioned. “They don’t sub a lot and we have to rebound the basketball and protect our home floor. That would decide the game.”
Larry Johnson, a 6-Four senior, had seven factors and ten rebounds for North Lawndale. He was matched up in opposition to Farragut’s cumbersome and proficient sophomore twins, 6-4 Mikell and Mikqwon Jones. Mikell completed with 14 factors and 7 rebounds and Mikqwon had 18 factors and eight rebounds.
“They are big,” Johnson mentioned. “I couldn’t out jump the two of them and they were putting their bodies on me. But I just kept at it.”
Ronald Chambers, one of many metropolis’s highly-regarded freshmen, added 13 factors for the Phoenix.