Michael O’Brien’s holiday tournament notebook: Dec. 29, 2016

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Austin Richie (32) of Bloom gets high fives after a monster dunk against Joliet West. Worsom Robinson/ For the Sun-Times.

Possibly not my best notebook effort. It’s been a long week and I’m still recovering from the Joliet West loss today. Hopes were high…

PONTIAC

Quarterfinals

Oak Park vs. Simeon: Read about it.

Bloom vs. Joliet West: Read about it.

Bloomington vs. Benet: Read about it.

Curie vs. Danville: Read about it.

CENTRALIA

Quarterfinals

Marist 67, O’Fallon 40: Big game for Justin Brown with 17 points as the Redhawks remain unbeaten. David Daniels and Morgan Taylor each scored 15.

Belleville West 69, TF North 68: A heartbreaker for the Meteors. Jadacus Dixon another big game with 18 points.

HINSDALE CENTRAL

Semifinals

Bolingbrook 59, Marian Catholic 44: What a stat line for Malik Binns, 23 points, 12 rebounds and was 10-for-16 shooting. Nana Akenten scored 15, Kaleb Thornton 13.

Homewood-Flossmoor 41, DePaul Prep 40: Puzzling score here. H-F is clearly playing up or down to the level of competition. That is a dangerous game. Promising sign for a crazy young DePaul squad though.

PROVISO WEST

Semifinals

Morgan Park 66, Uplift 64:Heard raves about Ayo Dosunmu’s performance in this one, he scored 29. Melo Burrell added 10 points. Toraze Dobbs led Uplift with 23 and Damarius Jacobs scored 17. Markese Jacobs fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Young 57, Fenwick 52: The Dolphins get it done. This sets up an explosive final. Tyrone Slaughter vs. Nick Irvin. Should be fun. Lucas Williamson with a big-time performance, 25 points. Javon Freeman had 11.

RICH SOUTH

Title

Thornton 78, Michigan City Ind. 67: The Wildcats take home the title. Alonzo Verge led the way with 27 points and seven rebounds. Orlando Allen added 17 points and 11 rebounds.

STATE FARM/BLOOMINGTON

Semifinals

Wheaton-Warrenville South 62, North Lawndale 54: The Tigers did it. Up until just now, WW South was undefeated but unrespected. That just changed. Dillon Durrett had a great game with 25 points. He also played well when I saw the Tigers beat Naperville North. Drew Healy scored 16, Chase Stebbins 13.

Joliet Central 49, Mahomet-Seymour 38:Jose Grubbs, one of the state’s really underrated players, scored 19 points to lead the Steelmen to the title game.

WHEELING

Semifinals

Fremd 54, Libertyville 38: Kyle Sliwa led the way with 14. Drew Peterson scored 24, but it wasn’t enough to take down unbeaten Fremd.

Notre Dame 62, Waukegan 55: The Dons are in the title game. Big night from Matt Stritzel with 22 points, I’ve seen him do that before. The Bulldogs are young and inconsistent, we will likely be saying that all season. No shame in losing a close one to ND though.

YORK

Semifinals

Conant 61, Downers Grove South 55: Jimmy Sotos scores 24, dishes out four assists and grabs seven boards to lead the Cougars into the title game.

St. Patrick 76, Wheaton North 58: Laurence Merritt with 25 points and Xavier Pinson scored 15. The hype around the Shamrocks builds. Should be a really fun title game.

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