The Oak Park and River Forest High School boys basketball team started sluggishly in its West Suburban Silver home game against Proviso West, Jan. 5. But the Huskies got their act together in the second half and pulled away for a 71-56 victory over the Panthers.
While OPRF coach Phil Gary was happy with the win, he wasn’t entirely enthusiastic about his team’s effort.
“We found a way to win, but we’ve got to be better,” he said.
OPRF (6-8, 1-2 in WSC Silver) led 15-13 after the first quarter, despite the slow start, thanks to the play of center Alex Vincent, who scored 12 of his 17 points in that period.
“He’s a force,” said Gary of the 6-9 junior, who added 17 rebounds for a double-double. “Coming back from Pontiac has helped him gain more confidence, and we’ve got to keep feeding him.”
Junior forward Alex Gossett came alive in the second quarter for the Huskies, scoring nine of his 17 points to help raise OPRF’s lead to 34-27 at halftime.
Trailing 53-42 after three quarters, Proviso West (6-9, 0-4) started the fourth with a 10-2 run and was down just five points at 59-54 with 3:22 remaining. But a three-point basket by Joe Halper (six points, four rebounds) followed by a three-point play from Vincent kickstarted the Huskies’ game-ending 12-2 spurt.
Senior guard Max Johnson had 14 points and five assists, while junior forward Justin Bowen added eight points and six rebounds.
Moreover, Gary was pleased with the energy provided by the bench players: juniors Dominick Hale, Mateo Heidkamp-Pimentel, Kris Ward (six points), and Andrew Zhou; and sophomore Jerome Delaney.
“The bench guys are super-important,” he said. “It’s better when we have six to eight guys playing instead of just five.”
On Jan. 6 in the Mid-Suburban/West Suburban Challenge at Addison Trail, Gossett had 19 points and nine rebounds with Johnson adding 18 points. But it wasn’t enough as OPRF lost to Rolling Meadows 66-58.
“[Vincent] battled foul trouble all game and Rolling Meadows went small so it was tough for him,” Gary said. “We battled but just couldn’t overcome their hot shooting from three.”
After facing hosting New Trier on Jan. 9 (after deadline), the Huskies meet York in a WSC Silver home game, Jan. 11 at 6:30 p.m.