It wasn’t long ago that the Oak Park and River Forest boys basketball team was a perennial favorite in the West Suburban Conference Silver Division.
While the past two seasons have been a grind, the Huskies were hoping to change their fortunes when they hosted Downers Grove North, Jan. 31, in a WSC Silver contest.
Things looked promising as OPRF had one of Chicagoland’s top teams on the ropes, especially when senior guard Joe Halper nailed a buzzer-beating three from the left corner at the end of the third quarter to give the Huskies a six-point lead. But OPRF scored just two points in the final quarter as the Trojans rallied for a 48-44 victory.
“We did a good job guarding for 3½ quarters,” said OPRF coach Phil Gary. “But we’ve got to be better at making shots at the end of the game.”
Despite their offensive struggles, OPRF (7-14, 2-7 in WSC Silver) still led 42-41 with 2:06 remaining in regulation. That was when Alex Miller connected on a three-pointer to give DGN (22-4, 8-1) the lead for the first time since early in the second quarter. He added a two-point basket 39 seconds later to raise the Trojans’ lead to four.
Justin Bowen (eight points) drew OPRF back within two on a jumper with 1:09 left. But the Huskies allowed over 40 seconds to lapse before fouling the Trojans’ Jake Riemer (11 points).
Riemer missed both free throws, however, and OPRF got the ball back with 18.7 left. Bowen dribbled into the lane and had a good look, but his potential tying shot bounced off and was rebounded by DGN’s Jack Stanton (14 points). His two successful free throws with 7.4 left iced things for the Trojans.
“We lost by 13 (60-47, Jan. 26) to these guys, but we’re making progress,” Gary said. “We paid more attention to detail and we scored in transition a little more than last time. We also didn’t turn the ball over as much this game.”
Halper finished with 14 points and grabbed five rebounds while Max Johnson added 10 points for the Huskies, who host Lyons Township, Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m., and Glenbard West, Feb. 10 at 3 p.m.
OPRF girls
When Gabriella Chesney (12 points) connected on a buzzer-beater from just inside the half-court line against visiting Proviso West on Jan. 30 to give the OPRF girls team a 32-17 halftime lead, the chances of a first conference victory of the season looked very good.
But the Huskies (5-22, 0-12 in WSC Silver) struggled offensively in the second half, and that allowed the Panthers to chip away and tie things up.
Then after freshman Taryn Draine (9 points) and junior Genevieve Simkowski (10 points) gave OPRF a four-point lead with just over two minutes left, Proviso West ended the game with an 8-0 run to hand the Huskies a 52-48 defeat.
“It was tough, but it’s all a part of the learning process,” said OPRF coach Renee Brantley. “We’d never been in that position before, so we have to understand how to close out games.”
Trailing by two with 19.7 seconds left, OPRF had a chance to tie or win the game. But Leia Hammerschmidt’s jumper bounced off and was rebounded by the Panthers, who hit two free throws to seal the win.
“Leia had a good look,” Brantley said. “Of course, I’d have loved to not be in that situation, but that’s all you can ask for. She didn’t let it break her spirit after the game.”
Brantley is impressed with Draine, who was promoted to the varsity the previous week.
“Taryn has been great for us,” she said. “She’s had to pick up things quick in a short time while adjusting to the speed at the varsity level.”
The future does look encouraging for OPRF with promising young talent such as Chesney (a sophomore) and Draine around. But Brantley would like to see the Huskies end the year strong and build momentum.
“We have some young underclassmen who want it and are still learning,” she said. “They know it’s a process and want to finish out on a good note.”