OPRF 56
Fenwick 48 OT
It only seems fitting that the OPRF boys basketball team needed overtime to edge cross-town rival Fenwick 56-48 on Saturday in Oak Park. After all, the resilient Huskies have rolled up their sleeves under first-year head coach Matt Maloney and, with a completely new starting lineup, have strung together seven-straight wins after dropping their first three games of the season.
OPRF (7-3) turned the always challenging trick of knocking off Fenwick by outscoring the Friars 14-6 in overtime. Andrew Godbold (17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals) scored the Huskies’ first five points in overtime and De’Angelo Speech (11 points) sank 4-of-4 free throws to help OPRF pull away.
“The players were joking around [after the game] that for the first time I was speechless,” Maloney said. “I told them I felt like I was a minor supporting actor in a feature film. I was at the bottom of the credit list just watching them make plays in overtime.”
Six-foot-8 center Jeff Dirkin (11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks), and lightning quick point guard Zach Peterson also played well for OPRF at both ends of the floor. Junior guard Antonio Foster’s three-pointer at the buzzer in the second quarter lifted the Huskies to a 28-27 advantage at the intermission.
While the Huskies thrilled their home crowd, Fenwick (4-3) almost stole the show courtesy of a clutch jumper by Patrick McGrail (5 points). The 6-foot junior guard, a transfer student from California, calmly nailed a three-pointer from the corner off an assist from Joseluis Gamboa to tie the score at 42-42 with five seconds left in regulation.
Engaged in a see-saw battle throughout the game, the Friars grabbed the lead at 39-38 with 2:30 remaining on a three-pointer by Michael Black. A pair of tough transition lay-ups from Speech, including one off a steal, recaptured the lead for OPRF at 42-39 before McGrail’s game-tying dagger.
“I’m really excited now,” Speech said. “We have improved a lot since the start of the season. We have a lot of doubters out there. As long as we believe in ourselves and play hard, there are going to be a lot of upsets this season.”
For the senior-laden Friars, the loss hurt but also will serve as a valuable learning experience.
“We didn’t come out as hard as we should have defensively,” said Black, who notched a team-high 16 points and seven rebounds. “We let a few of their guys get hot. When Patrick [McGrail] hit that three, we thought we had them but it slipped away. This game was a good test for us because now we have to prove something.”
The Friars’ 6-7 junior Dave Suwada contributed 10 points and nine rebounds, while senior Xavier Humphrey added eight. In the fourth quarter, the University of North Florida-bound Black tallied 10 points.
Fenwick coach John Quinn pointed to the Friars’ inability to expose OPRF’s zone defense as a primary culprit for the setback.
“We didn’t play our best game,” he said. “We had people open against their zone, but we weren’t cutting and flashing with authority [off the ball]. That’s something we have to learn as a team. [Coach Maloney] did a great job and their kids played hard.”
While OPRF and Fenwick embark on holiday tournaments this week at Pontiac and Proviso West, respectively, Godbold summed up their respectful, neighborhood rivalry as comparable with some other compelling clashes in sports.
“Oak Park and Fenwick is like Kobe vs. Shaq, the Yankees vs. Boston,” Godbold said with a laugh. “We’ve grown up with these guys since we were 3-years-old. Playing against the high school down the block and letting the entire village know that this year we were the better team is a great feeling.”