For the second time in three years, the Oak Park and River Forest High School varsity boys basketball team emerged from the premier holiday tournament in Illinois with a well-deserved trophy.
While the Huskies did not win the Pontiac Holiday Tournament championship, Dec. 26-28, they rebounded from a first-round defeat to run off three consecutive wins and claim the consolation title.
“We played really well,” said OPRF coach Phil Gary. “If you play four games at Pontiac, you’re playing some pretty good basketball.”
In the opener on Dec. 26, OPRF (6-7) led Curie 40-39 late in the third quarter. But the Condors closed the quarter on a 9-1 run, then outscored the Huskies 20-9 in the fourth to pull away for a 68-50 victory. Alex Gossett had 16 points and six rebounds, Matt Halper nine points, and Alex Vincent eight in the loss.
“Curie turned it up in the fourth quarter and we started turning it over and missing layups and easy shots,” Gary said. “If you do that against teams like Curie, it’s going to be a long day.”
The next day in the consolation bracket, OPRF pulled out an 84-79 overtime victory over St. Charles North. Gossett tallied a game-high 28 points, and Vincent posted a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Cameron Woods added 16 points and Logan Johnson 13 points and five rebounds for the Huskies.
OPRF needed to win twice on Dec. 28 to win the consolation title, and that is exactly what happened. In the morning, Gossett had 27 points and nine rebounds in a 63-52 victory over Lockport. Woods added 11 points, and Vincent and Jerome Delaney had 10 apiece.
Later in the day, the Huskies edged past Danville 65-62 for the consolation championship. Gossett, who averaged 23.5 points and had a tournament-best 94 points in four games, enroute to making the Pontiac All-Tournament Second Team, scored 23. Vincent put up another double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds), and Johnson added 10 points.
“[Gossett] is starting to understand that this is his senior year and he needs to continue to grow and get better as a player,” Gary said. “He left his stamp on every game.”
Unfortunately, the momentum OPRF built up at Pontiac couldn’t be sustained. At the Mid-Suburban League/West Suburban Conference Challenge, Jan. 4 at Buffalo Grove, Gossett kept his hot streak going with 24 points, and Vincent had 14 points and 10 rebounds. But their efforts weren’t enough as OPRF lost to Fremd 78-61.
Then at the New Year’s Showcase at Malcolm X College, Jan. 5, the Huskies were edged out by Lindblom 55-52. Gossett and Halper each had 13 points, and Vincent added nine.
“We hit a little wall mentally this weekend,” Gary said. “We have to get through that. We’re looking forward to getting back to what we do: outrebound teams, play our pace of basketball, and play defense.”
OPRF has home games against Hope Academy, Jan. 8, and Hinsdale Central, Jan. 10, with both tipping off at 7:30 p.m.
OPRF girls
The OPRF girls figured to have learning opportunities competing in the Loyola Academy Christmas Tournament which featured several top Chicagoland programs.
Things did not go well for the Huskies (1-14) as they dropped all four games in the tournament by considerable margins. Then in the Grow the Game Invitational at Highland Park, Jan. 4, OPRF fell 37-26 to Schaumburg, extending its losing streak to 13 games.
“[Loyola] was a tough tournament,” said OPRF coach Renee Brantley. “We still have a lot of growth and learning to do. We took the things we learned and hopefully can apply them to the second half of the season.”
Offense has been an issue for the Huskies lately. OPRF has not scored more than 30 points in a game since a 50-44 loss at Proviso West on Dec. 10, a stretch of seven consecutive games.
“Defensively, we’ve held teams under their average. It’s a matter of getting the ball in the basket,” Brantley said. “If we make more free throws and layups, we can make games more competitive.”
While the losing is a challenge for the players and coaches, she said, everyone is keeping their spirits up and are confident of a breakthrough soon.
“We know the record is nowhere near we want it to be,” she said. “However, the girls still compete every day at practice. We’ve also had a tough schedule. But we put on our uniforms like the other team, and we’re just going to keep working.”
OPRF has West Suburban Silver games at Hinsdale Central, Jan. 10, and at home against Proviso West, Jan. 11, and Downers Grove North, Jan. 14.