The Chicago Public League basketball quarterfinals took place on Presidents Day at the UIC Pavilion and basketball junkies got a full eight hours of high-level hoops. Marshall, Morgan Park, Simeon, and Foreman high schools all advanced and they’ll p
The second contest on the bill pitted the Marshall Commandos (21-6) against the Bogan Bengals (22-7). Many basketball pundits thought the surprising Bengals had a chance to upset Marshall, but the Commandos showed why they are a basketball powerhouse by putting the clamps on Bogan every time they tried to make a serious run. Marshall skywalker Vincent Garret scored 15 points and the rest of his teammates chipped in for a nice, balanced showing. They never trailed and won by 13 points 70-57. The third and best game of the quarterfinals was an overtime thriller that saw the Foreman Hornets (22-2) edge the Robeson Raiders 67-66. The favored Hornets jumped out to an early 16-8 first quarter lead, but the Raiders stormed back with an 8-0 run to tie the score at 16. With 1:28 left in the 2nd period, Hornet forward Edward Denard took a vicious elbow that drew blood and play was stopped for twenty minutes while paramedics tended his wound and maintenance cleared the floor of blood. After the incident the pace on the floor became torrid in the second half and Robeson, behind the hot shooting of guard Oscar Howell (28 points, 7 three-pointers) moved out to a tenuous two-point lead with 36 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Hornet guard Tommy Woolridge hit two key foul shots with 0.9 remaining to tie the score and send the contest into overtime. The overtime session also went to the wire with both teams hitting big shots and free throws, but it would be the injured Edward Denard who hit the winning shot on a driving lay-up with three seconds left to ice the game for the Hornets. Denard scored 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and overtime and the 6-foot-7 senior forward said he was on a mission to get the win and earn some respect. “When they hit me in my eye that made me want to play even harder,” said Denard, who spoke to the media after the game while still bleeding from the cut he suffered earlier. The cut was serious and would require stitches, but Denard played through the injury. “A little blood got in my eye, but they did a great job cleaning me up. They put me back out there and I was able to perform,” he said. In the final game of the night the Morgan Park Mustangs (17-5) beat the Simeon Wolverines (18-8) 51-50. Morgan Park was coming off of an upset win against No. 1 Whitney Young and they showed that that win was no fluke as they fought back time and time against the super-athletic Wolverines. Mustangs star Wayne Blackshear scored 18 points to lead Morgan Park, but it was the final free throw by Markee Williams with 2 seconds remaining that would be the difference. The freshman guard only scored five points in the game but he calmly hit one of two free throws to seal the win and send Morgan Park to the semifinals.
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