Michael O’Brien’s notebook: Nov. 27, 2016

I capped off the long weekend with the Arne Duncan Classic today at U-High. I’m running on fumes tonight, so this might be brief. Just finished up the new rankings. Also, Joe Henricksen wrote about North Lawndale’s Carlos Hines. He’s an interesting story. It was pretty clear to anyone that watched the Phoenix last season that Hines was a big-time player. The problem is, very few people actually watched the Phoenix.

North Lawndale was simply one of the best teams in the state last season. The Phoenix lost to St. Joseph by one point in the state playoffs and lost an intense thriller to Morgan Park in the city playoffs. Dexter Smith, Tyrone Rhivers and Douglas Lowery were underrated all season. Looks like the same thing won’t happen to Hines and Martrell Barnes.

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Morgan Park opened the season against Bowen again. Last year Charlie Moore scored 50, this year Ayo Dosunmu scored 51. Not a lot you can really take away from this for Morgan Park. They dominated a team they were supposed to dominate. The Mustangs won 116-55.

Bowen senior Joshua Streater demanded to be noticed. He’s 6-5 and athletic, scored 39 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

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Top-ranked Curie opened its season against Providence-St. Mel in the second game. The Knights are an intriguing team this year. They have a lot of talented young players, including 6-10 Taeyon Neal.

Providence-St. Mel was able to keep it close for about 12 minutes. Curie won 87-41 and looked the part of the No. 1 team. Allante Pickens shot very well, finished with a game-high 21 points. Terry Smith Jr. scored 19 and had seven rebounds. Elijah Joiner added 17. Traevon Martin didn’t post big numbers, but was a major factor defensively.

Sophomore Jason Mason played well for Providence-St. Mel. Neal is the story for the Knights though, his potential is just so enticing. He’s definitely better than he was last year. He finished with seven points and three rebounds. Still a work in progress, but the ceiling is very high.

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DePaul Prep and U-High wrapped things up. I’ve been waiting for well over a year to see U-High’s Jameel Alausa. I think a snowstorm kept me from their game last year.

Looks like this wasn’t his best. Alausa managed just six points and five rebounds. Senior Oliver Maciak led U-High with 14.

The game was tight throughout. DePaul Prep closed it with a 9-2 run and won 45-39.

Freshman guard Elliot Sieger was terrific. He finished with 19 points. He hit threes, got to the basket and just showed impressive overall composure. Sophomore Perry Cowan had a rough shooting night but finished with eight points and nine rebounds.