OPRFÂ 63
Lyons 50
The scrum surrounding OPRF senior Iman Shumpert following the Huskies’ 63-50 win over host Lyons Township Friday night for sole possession of the West Suburban (Silver) Conference title looked like the one that used to hound Michael Jordan during the NBA Finals. The McDonalds All-American signed autographs and posed for snap shots after his 28-point performance.
After Oak Park took a commanding lead, the two teams jockeyed back and fourth and the Huskies entered the break up 53-49.
With second leading scorer Daniel Barnes on the sidelines on crutches (hamstring), the Lions felt as though they could exploit the Huskies by playing smart basketball. What resulted was a superb effort by Shumpert.
The Georgia Tech-bound senior hit 13-of-14 free throws in the second half and tallied nine rebounds and four steals in the win.
“I was happy about making the McDonalds and Jordan All-American games,” Shumpert said of his latest accolades. “But that’s individual stuff. We gotta stay hungry to go downstate. I could care less about the crowd and what the newspapers say. As long as we win, I’m happy.”
The Huskies (22-5, 10-2) have enjoyed a remarkable turnaround this season. After they dropped two conference games in a row in early December-one to York and the other to Lyons-the team decided it needed to win out to secure their third conference title in four years. And they did just that.
“When Lyons beat us Dec. 8th, it felt like the walls caved in on us,” said OPRF head coach Al Allen. “We had a team meeting and everything changed. Our shot selection changed, we had to find a way to get people into the flow. We had to win every conference game after that, and we only lost one.”
The result of a refocused team was an all out Huskies’ resurgence which included yet another Silver Division title and 12 wins in a row.
In the third quarter, LT seemed intent on getting the ball into big man Jeff Adams (nine points). Adams converted four from the line in the quarter.
“I didn’t think we played too badly,” Lyons coach Conte Stamas said following the game. “Oak Park is outstanding defensively. They didn’t allow us to get over the hump. We were down just one possession at the half and we had confidence at that point.”
Lyons’ senior leader Matt Hirt struggled to find his rhythm offensively. He also finished the game with nine points.
“They put a little more pressure on him (Hirt),” Stamas said. “They denied him pretty good. I can’t really say anything other than after the slow start, we played ok. You gotta give Oak Park credit.”
Marcus Acree picked up where he left off last week by knocking down two first quarter 3-pointers. He finished with 11 points. But the true test was how the Huskies would deal with Barnes’ absence.
“Daniel is day-to-day, I think the rest of the guys bailed him out,” Allen said. “Our motto is, ‘When the time comes, I’ll be ready.'”