Michael O’Brien’s notebook: Dec. 21, 2018

Simeon started two freshmen tonight: Jaylen Drane and AJ Casey. Wolverines coach Robert Smith says this is the first season he’s ever started two freshmen.

Derrick Rose and Tim Flowers spent their freshmen year on the sophomore team and Kendrick Nunn and Jabari Parker never started together. Casey has been starting all season for Simeon. Drane is in for injured sophomore Ahamad Bynum.

This should really scare the rest of the state. Smith’s cobbled together young team beat Homewood-Flossmoor, one of the area’s top teams.

Tonight’s game wasn’t great. Tons of turnovers and fouls, but it was nice to see a suburban team play at Simeon. The teams will play next season at H-F.

READ ALL ABOUT SIMEON’S WIN AGAINST H-F

There were an awful lot of people crowing about Simeon’s demise and how everyone shouldn’t be ranking them. Those people are silent tonight.

Friday’s top games

West Aurora 83, East Aurora 76: The Tomcats gave it a good run in one of the state’s great rivalry games. Heard there were 3,500 fans at this one. Marquise Walker scored 29 and Traevon Brown added 14. This is a very nice catapult into Pontiac for the Blackhawks. Jules Williamson dropped 33 for East Aurora.

Lincoln-Way East 55, Lincoln-Way Central 54 OT: Tonight is almost all rivalry games for some reason. Julian Barr and sophomore Jhei-R Jones each scored 19 for the Griffins.

St. Charles East 49, St. Charles North 45: The Saints win on the road. Nate Ortiz had 19 and Luke Matheny added 16. St. Charles East plays Waukegan tomorrow.

Wheaton North 40, Wheaton-Warrenville South 36: Feels like it has been awhile since the Falcons won this one.

Elgin 55, Larkin 52: Also feels like it has been awhile since the Maroons won this rivalry. X. Bonds scored 17 for Elgin.

No. 18 New Trier 71, Scottsdale Christian (AZ) 46: The Trevians made 13 three-pointers. They will play in the championship game tomorrow at 5:30 in Arizona.

No. 10 Marian Catholic 60, Nazareth 42: The Spartans are still unbeaten with Ahron Ulis, who scored 14.

Lemont 54, Marist 52: Good tweet from Lemont basketball on this one. “Another win. Different hero.” Ed Zilys hit the game-winner with six seconds to play. Nate Ferguson scored 25.

St. Patrick 61, Oak Park 54: Austin Freeman scored 25 for the Shamrocks. Caleb Corro had 12 and Joe Fanning added 11. This will open some eyes. The Huskies will limp into a very tough first round game at Pontiac against West Aurora.

No. 11 DePaul Prep 61, No. 4 Leo 58 OT: Joe Henricksen picked the Rams. I don’t make public predictions if I can help it, but I would have probably gone with Leo in this one. Sounds like it could have gone either way. Fred Cleveland was called for traveling on a long heave that went in and would have won it for Leo in regulation. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if both of these teams won state titles in March. Perry Cowan scored 19 and Raheem Anthony had 16. Cleveland and DaChaun Anderson each finished with 16.

No. 20 Providence-St. Mel 53, Loyola 51: The Knights win it on the road. Tim Ervin II scored 13 and Tyriel Nelson had 10. Big man Tayeon Neal added nine. Bennett Kwiecisnki led the Ramblers with 20.

Mount Carmel 64, St. Joseph 34: Josh Redic scored 22. The Caravan continue to win.

No. 22 Glenbrook South 54, Warren 50: Goodness is Pontiac loaded. The Blue Devils lost this, but the score is notable. Warren is 5-4 but clearly a threat. Dom Martinelli led the Titans with 25 points.

No. 23 Geneva 65, Batavia 51: Another big rivalry game. The Vikings are still unbeaten. Jack McDonald scored 24 and Mitch Mascari added 17. Geneva is one of the few good teams I haven’t seen yet this season.

No. 19 York 63, Downers Grove North 53: Speaking of good teams I haven’t covered this season, how about these Dukes? Vince Doran’s club is 9-1. Joe Henricksen and I are going to try and do No Shot Clock live from the Jack Tosh Tournament on Dec. 31. The first ever on location podcast. I have not mentioned anything about this to Vince Doran yet. Hopefully it is cool with him.

St. Rita 59, Fenwick 54: Kind of feels like a very big win for the Mustangs. They improve to 7-3 and get some nice momentum heading into Hinsdale Central. Jeremiah Oden scored 20 and Connor Serven added 15 points.

Rolling Meadows 69, Wheeling 61: Max Christie lit it up again with 32 points and 10 rebounds. The Mustangs are 7-2 now. I’m very tempted to be at York on the 26th to see Christie and Rolling Meadows take on Stage.

No. 6 Evanston 83, South Miami (FL) 70: The Wildcats win it in Kentucky. Lance Jones scored 26, Ryan Bost had 18 points and seven rebounds. Jaheim Holden added 15 and sophomore Jaylin Gibson continues his strong start to the season with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Sheldon (from some state) 66, No. 5 Young 52: The Dolphins lose in Vegas. DJ Steward scored 13.

FRIDAY’S COMPLETE SCOREBOARD