The last two plays of the first half between Fenwick and Curie typified why the latter held on for a 59-56 win in the championship game of the Fenwick Regional of the Class 4A playoffs on Friday. Everything the Friars did well, the Condors did just a bit better.
After Fenwick guard Quinn Fisher scored on a tough layup in traffic to whittle the Condors’ lead to 26-24, Curie’s Joshua Stamps responded by making a three-quarter court bank shot at the buzzer to make the score 29-24 at halftime.
In fact, the recurring flow of the game was an intense back-and-forth battle with Curie always emerging slightly ahead. With the Condors up 37-29 with 5:41 left in the third quarter, Fenwick went on an 8-0 run highlighted by Jay Militello’s breakaway layup and a pair of three-pointers by junior guard Mike Smith to knot the score, 37-37, at 4:19 of the third quarter. After a cold-shooting first half, Smith found his shot in the second half to finish with 15 points.
Fenwick junior forward Mike Ballard (19 points) scored on a pair of treys as well, both assisted by Smith, as the teams fought to a 43-43 tie. The sharpshooting Ballard made five shots from beyond the three-point arc on the night.
Smith gave the Friars their final lead of the game at 44-43 when he split two free throws with 1:01 left in the third quarter.
Curie opened the fourth quarter on an 11-3 run to regain the lead at 54-47 with 3:09 remaining. Two free throws by sophomore Jacob Keller and a top of the key three-pointer by Smith drew Fenwick within 54-52 at the 2:20 mark of the fourth quarter.
Ballard added a pair of free throws to cut the Friars’ deficit to 57-56 with 11.4 seconds left in the game. Curie junior point guard Devon Gage (14 points) calmly converted two attempts from the charity stripe to make the score 59-56.
After Curie forward Malik Washington missed two free throws a few plays later, Ballard attempted a game-tying three which hit the backboard at the buzzer.
“I told the kids after the game that I didn’t think we lost, we got beat,” Fenwick coach Rick Malnati said. “Curie is a very good team. They made more plays then we were able to make.
“We weren’t really able to guard them man-to-man so we switched to a 1-3-1 [zone defense]. I think that shifted the momentum a little bit, but they have more size than we do.”
In the opening minutes, Fenwick held a brief 5-2 advantage against the Condors as Ballard scored all five points, but Curie outscored the Friars by 10 the rest of the first quarter en route to a 17-10 lead.
At 7:16 of the second quarter, Stamps (19 points) scored in even more spectacular fashion than his three-quarter court bucket before halfltime. The athletic swingman drove along the right baseline and threw down an emphatic one-handed dunk. Despite Curie’s clear edge in size, speed and athleticism, Fenwick hung tough throughout the game.
While their season ended with a regional final loss on their home floor, the Friars (22-8) produced another solid campaign under Malnati. Fenwick opened the season by winning its own John Malone Memorial Tournament and also notched notable victories over OPRF, Morton, Homewood-Flossmoor, DePaul Prep and Mount Carmel. The Friars cruised in their postseason opener with a 69-50 win over Foreman as Ballard broke loose for 30 points.
“We’re not going to determine our season by one game,” Malnati said about the loss to Curie. “We had a great season. The ball just bounced a different direction [tonight]. I loved our fight and the kids battled hard all season. I can’t be more proud of our them. We were undermanned all year and our players really competed every game.”
Curie (19-6) advances to the semifinals of the Morton Sectional. The Condors will clash with top sectional seed Riverside-Brookfield, which edged Oak Park and River Forest 67-61. Morton and St. Ignatius, which upset Public League powers Whitney Young and Kenwood, respectively, will square off in the other semifinal at Morton.
Mike & Mike show headline talented cast of returning players
Looking ahead to next year, Fenwick returns Smith and Ballard (two Chicago Catholic League all-conference players) to anchor what figures to be a pretty formidable lineup.
“Thank God we have them back for another year. It will be fun to watch their development,” Malnati said. “They are everything we would want from Fenwick kids. They are great teammates and great basketball players.”
Talented 6-4 swingman Jamal Nixon, who missed much of the season due to injury, also returns next season. He’ll provide much needed size along the front line as well as versatility. With Nixon out, the 6-3 sophomore Keller developed nicely, even if he was playing out of position.
“I think I got a lot better this season,” Keller said. “I really don’t play the four [position] but I improved around the basket and learned how to box out and rebound. I was just trying to go up strong [against Curie], make my layups and maybe get some and-1’s. Curie is a good team, they just made a fewmore baskets down the stretch then we did.”
Fisher, Militello, AJ Nixon, Charlie Boyle should contribute as well next season.
“I thought we had a great year,” Smith said. “Nobody thought we would finish third in the Catholic League. We were just a few rebounds away from finishing first [in the Catholic League]. Even though we were a young team, we were ranked high this season. I think we proved a lot of people wrong who had doubts about us. I’m eager to see what we can do next year. I love our fans, too. They came out and supported us all season long.
Malnati added: “I think our returning players want to do something that hasn’t been done here in a while. We get [Fenwick sophomore] Jamal [Nixon] back and we have some other young kids we get back in the program who are going to be very good basketball players.”
Malnati also offered praise for the support of the Fenwick community throughout the season, and particularly during Friday’s electric atmosphere in the regional final.
“The school, the faculty and community have been unbelievable,” Malnati said. “Everybody around school today was talking about the game. As a basketball coach, I want our players to play hard and in front of a lot of people. That’s why high school basketball is great, so much better than AAU, because of the kind of atmosphere we had tonight on our home floor.”
