Michael O’Brien’s notebook: Feb. 7, 2019

I can’t believe I’m about to jinx myself like this but I haven’t had any car trouble at all so far this season. Ok, other than getting stuck in the alley that day during the snowstorm. But I’m not going to count that.

I’ll generally wind up with at least a couple flat tires over the course of the season. That’s just what happens when you are out driving every night regardless of the weather. Ben Pope, our talented intern, experienced his first car-related annoyance tonight.

Ben emerged from the Simeon-Lane game to find that his car locks were frozen. He asked me to thank his Uber driver, Nannette, for helping him deal with the situation. Sounds like there was a big search for defroster.

Simeon shakes off pesky Lane, rides Ahamad Bynum to quarterfinals: Midway through the second quarter, Simeon looked shaken and confused, trailing by double digits to an undersized but hot-shooting Lane squad. Midway through the third quarter, thanks to 22 consecutive points, the three-time defending city champions were back on track to advance to the quarterfinals of the Public League Playoffs. That they eventually did, holding off the Indians in the second half to win 66-59. Read the story.

I was over at Farragut tonight. Aaron Strong is the lead of the story tonight, for good reason, but there isn’t a team in the city (ok, other than Simeon) that has as many freshmen and sophomores contributing as the Admirals. The future is bright for Wolf Nelson.

Overlooked Aaron Strong, Farragut knock off Kenwood: Aaron Strong has been one of the top scorers in the city for the past three seasons, but that hasn’t led to a plethora of college offers. Until last week he didn’t have a single one.

“He’s been outplaying all of these guys with offers,” Farragut coach William Nelson said. “But they are big AAU guys, politicking all year long. I don’t do AAU.”

Read the story.

Thursday’s top games

Young 61, Payton 50: The Grizzlies led early and stayed close throughout, not too shabby for a White Division team. DJ Steward scored 22 for the Dolphins. The Simeon-Young quarterfinal game will be on Wednesday, the girls team is hosting a regional game at Young on Tuesday. The full Public League playoff bracket is here.

Morgan Park 104, Uplift 60: The Mustangs cruise. Twitter says there were two Illinois assistants at this one. Adam Miller scored 41 and Marcus Watson dropped 30.

Lincoln Park 75, Vocational 71 OT: I keep writing about the Lions playing up or down to their competition and it keeps happening (no offense to Vocational). Cavaliers coach Donnie Kirksey was out in Aurora this weekend scouting Lincoln Park and that clearly paid off. Ismail Habib led Lincoln Park with 22 points, Tahir Thompson added 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Curie 78, Marshall 52: No letdown for the top-ranked Condors. DaJuan Gordon had 18 points and 13 rebounds and Justin Harmon scored 18.

Orr 77, Corliss 61: I thought there was a chance this could be a close one but it looks like the Spartans may have shaken off their little malaise. Greg Outlaw had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Sherif Kenney finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Terry Williams added 15.

Bogan 83, North Lawndale 63: Rashaun Agee makes a Player of the Year statement with 40 points and 18 rebounds. Tyreon Hardin added 18 for the Bengals.

Eisenhower 84, Evergreen Park 81 2 OT: This was a wild one. The Cardinals win it on the road behind 37 points from Jemel Jones, 17 from Eddie Moore and 15 from Shamar Fuller. Eisenhower has won four of its last five.

THURSDAY’S FULL SCOREBOARD