Michael O’Brien’s notebook: Dec. 2, 2016

The Chicago Elite Classic started slow with a sloggy Notre Dame vs. Loyola game, picked up steam with Curie’s win over East St. Louis and ended with a fun, fiery overtime game between Fenwick and Oak Park.

I missed most of the first half of Fenwick-Oak Park while I was writing the Curie gamer for the newspaper. The Friars took over in the overtime and shot well enough from the line to win. Jamal Nixon scored 18 and had 11 rebounds, Jacob Keller scored 20 and eight boards, four assists, four steals and two blocks. Those two talented, experienced seniors are going to lead the Friars pretty far this season.

The AP sent scores last night, so we have a full scoreboard.

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Here’s a look at Friday’s top games:

De La Salle 63, St. Joseph 47: It appears the Meteors may be for real. De La Salle is off to a 5-0 start, they beat St. Patrick last week.

IC Catholic 73, Riverside-Brookfield 70: Upset. Didn’t seen any stats from this one. Perhaps the Bulldogs are only going to be as good as their shooters this season.

Hersey 73, Prospect 71, OT: Another upset. Prospect played well last week, didn’t see this one coming.

Downers Grove North 74, No. 24 Lyons 67: The Lions fall immediately after grabbing a spot in the Super 25. Not really an upset though, most of us expected Downers North to be good.

No. 6 Bolingbrook 99, Lincoln-Way Central 62: That’s a score. Remember, Joliet West struggled with the Knights last week. The Raiders have posted some very impressive scores so far and people that have seen them have raved.

Iowa City West (IA) 72, No. 15 Marian Catholic 42: Word is this is the best team in Iowa, with a couple of Division I prospects. A thirty-point loss is never good though.

No. 21 Thornton 53, Lockport 44: The Wildcats survive. Looks like the Porters are much improved this season.

West Aurora 57, No. 18 St. Charles East 40: The other new arrival to the Super 25 goes down. The Blackhawks appear to be coming around. Pontiac is going to be fun.