Michael O’Brien’s notebook: Dec. 18, 2018

“Thicker and athletic” doesn’t sound great, but Richards coach Chris Passafiume is dead right when he describes his team. The Bulldogs are a bit wide but sneaky fast and skilled.

“We have a lot of guards that can attack and get to the rim pretty aggressively,” Passafiume said. “But they also know the situational stuff where we spread them out and get higher percentage shots inside.

Richards was very impressive Tuesday in a 73-59 win on the road against No. 23 Riverside-Brookfield.

Trevon Jones, a 6-4 senior, had 20 points and 15 rebounds. He was a hard-working warrior in the post.

“I like to crash the glass and stop teams from getting offensive rebounds and second chance points,” Jones said. “That’s big in close games.”

Riverside-Brookfield (9-2) was 8-for-34 from three-point range, so those offensive rebounds were crucial.

“If [Jones] can stay in it mentally we feed off him,” Passafiume said. “You can’t really stop the kid inside. He’s really tough.”

KaJuan Wines scored 16 for Richards (7-2). Marquel Porter, a very athletic 6-3 senior, added 11 points and six rebounds and guard Paul Zilinskas scored nine and did an excellent job handling the ball.

Zach Vaia led Riverside-Brookfield with 19 points and nine rebounds.

Richards has lost to Oak Forest and Hillcrest so far this season.

“This was a good signature win for us,” Passafiume said. “It will be huge going in to Christmas. This was a night we had circled on the calendar for awhile. Luckily they were a little bit cold.”

In case you missed it, there was some major news in the basketball world today. The IHSA will now rule on all transfers into Chicago Public Schools.

Tuesday’s top games

No. 21 Waukegan 82, North Chicago 76: One of the area’s best rivalry games. The Bulldogs win it on the road. Bryant Brown scored 25 and Jordan Brown had 23 points.

No. 10 Marian Catholic 68, Brother Rice 58: Ahron Ulis drops 28 points for the Spartans (there are a lot of Spartans in the notebook tonight). Chris White had 15 and Jordan Green added 13. Jimmy Gavin scored 18 for the Crusaders.

No. 6 Evanston 65, Zion-Benton 58: I might have headed to this one if not for all the football madness. Big game from a number of talented sophomores. Jaylin Gibson had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildkits. Blake Peters had 15 and Amar Aguillard had 16 for the Zee-Bees.

West Aurora 65, South Elgin 61: Nice win for the Blackhawks. South Elgin was 8-1 heading in. Traevon Brown scored 22 in the comeback win. Drake Montgomery had 30 points for the Storm

No. 4 Leo 66, U-High 52: That’s the ninth consecutive win for the Lions. Fred Cleveland had 22 points, five assists and four steals. DaChaun Anderson added 20 points and 13 rebounds. Johnny Brown scored 15 in the fourth quarter and finished with 22. Mohammed Alausa added 13 points.

No. 16 St. Laurence 67, Marist 52: Jeremiah Williams and Lance Jackson each scored 19. Dorion Pendleton had 14 for Marist.

Glenbrook North 59, Grayslake North 45: Brian Johnson scored 24 for the Spartans and Ryan Connolly had 22 for Grayslake

Oak Lawn 50, Stagg 28: Dominant win for the Spartans. Sami Osmani had 13 points and 11 boards.

Dunbar 90, Fenger 51: The Mighty Men are 10-0. Gavin Alston had 23 points. Tyrese Scurlock lit up the stat sheet with 22 points, 14 rebounds, six steals and five blocks.

Crane 59, Butler 58: The Cougars win a nail biter. Jalen Stanford won it at the free-throw line. Robert Hobbs led the way with 20 points and seven rebounds and Jimarius Sneed added 18 points.

Maine South 37, No. 22 Glenbrook South 36: Check out the ending for yourself.

Sandburg 60, Andrew 50: Marvin Agwomoh led the way with 15 points and the bench chipped in with great contributions.

West Chicago 69, Elgin 50: Sam Ricci posts some big totals with 25 points and 13 rebounds.

TUESDAY’S FULL SCOREBOARD