Michael O’Brien’s notebook: Dec. 7, 2016

Great, fun double-overtime game tonight at Farragut. Read about that (and the current state of Wolf Nelson’s program) here.

I was pretty disturbed by the state of Farragut’s gym tonight. It’s been declining in recent years, but things have hit a new low. The bleachers are literally destroyed in several places. There are lighting issues, it is just bad.

It’s a real shame. Farragut has the potential to be one of the city’s showcase gyms. The murals of Kevin Garnett and Ronnie Fields are well-known, the gym has a good amount of bleachers on both sides and ample parking. But instead of being a showcase for city basketball it is a wreck. I’m not blaming Farragut. I’m sure they have issues that go way beyond fixing up their gym. Ideally Chicago Public Schools could find some way to help out. Or maybe the shoe companies.

On to the basketball.

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Wednesday’s top games:

No. 12 Young 49, No. 20 Orr 48: Not much information out there on this one. According to The Public League Seton transfer Javon Freeman led the comeback and Lucas Williamson won it at the buzzer.

No. 10 North Lawndale 77, Marshall 69: Massive rivalry here. Looks like the Commandos are decent. No stats on them, but plenty from the Phoenix. Martrell Barnes had 22 points and 12 rebounds, Steven Ross 24 points, Carlos Hines 17 points.

No. 11 Uplift beat Von Steuben: Don’t even have a score on this one, but Uplift junior Toraze Dobbs had 18 points and six rebounds according to Twitter.

Jacobs 54, Crystal Lake Central 51: Close one in the Fox Valley. Jacobs could hit the Super 25 at some point.

Clemente 70, Raby 65: Teshawn Stokes had another big game with 25 pointsa nd 12 rebounds. The Wildcats are 6-1.

North Chicago 71, Grayslake North 63: Nice win for the Warhawks. Jamal Thomas, the guard that helped the Knights to that undefeated start last year, scored 29.

Prosser 68, Lane 64: Heard there was a big crowd at this one. Devion Collins had 15, Justin Slowikowski 17 and William Bynum added 15 points.