Emotional Curie seniors take down Kenwood

Curie’s basketball team and students went through a range of emotions on Thursday. An impressive, touching Senior Night ceremony started things off and then 90 minutes later the students stormed the floor to dance and celebrate a 57-54 victory over Red-Central rival Kenwood.

“[Curie coach Mike Oliver] told us yesterday that it might be the biggest senior night in high school basketball history,” Curie senior Elijah Joiner said.

The Condors’ five seniors were all key members of last season’s Class 4A state championship team. But the group is special to Oliver for more than just winning.

“When we had that [eligibility] scandal they were just freshman and they could have easily left and went somewhere else,” Oliver said. “They went down to the White Division and worked their way back. I’m proud of these guys.”

Oliver says that all five of the seniors (Joiner, Allante Pickens, Terry Smith Jr., Dennis Handy and Darius Johnson) have GPA’s of at least 3.0.

“Not only did they win the first state championship, they were also the best academic team in my 24 years coaching,” Oliver said. “These guys put in some work. No transfers, they have all been here for four years and they all worked hard from day one. They are great students and did everything we asked them to do, so we wanted to send them out with a bang.”

Joiner and Pickens made sure things ended well. Pickens drained a three-pointer with 1:32 to play to break the tie and give Curie the lead for good. Then Joiner made two free throws with eight seconds left to seal the win.

“Tonight was special,” Pickens said. “It just felt so good, seeing everyone here and getting to experience that. I knew I had to hit that shot and get the win.”

Pickens scored 18, Joiner added 15 points and Treavon Martin had seven points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Smith contributed 13 points and five boards.

“[Oliver] told us before the game that if we weren’t excited we weren’t human,” Smith said. “It was perfect to have our last home game be against one of our rivals.”

The Condors (20-2, 10-0) blew out Kenwood on the road in the first matchup. This victory sealed the conference title.

“We knew they would come out hard and come at us,” Joiner said. “That’s a very good team. Last time we just caught them on a bad day and we were hot.”

Octavious Parker led Kenwood (15-6, 8-2) with 13 points. David Hunt had 12 points and seven rebounds and Manny Patterson added 11 points and 12 boards.

Curie has been red-hot since the Pontiac Holiday Tournament in December. The emotional event on Thursday felt like a goodbye, but this version of the Condors still has a lot to play for.

“We can win the state title again,” Joiner said. “There is a lot still to come. They just wanted to do this big for us tonight because we aren’t just athletes, we are student-athletes.”