I don't do spreads that often and there is a reason for it. I inevitably get it wrong as I did this one. Metea Valley gave it a great battle but came up just short. Here we go:
North (Downers Grove) Thanksgiving Tournament Title Game:
#2 North (Downers Grove) 50 #16 Metea Valley (Aurora) 46: North did not score in the first quarter!!!!! I'll repeat DID NOT SCORE IN THE FIRST QUARTER!!!! It was 9-0 Metea at the end of that stanza. North picked it up and scored 24 in the second quarter and had cut the lead to 1 as Metea had 25. Game stayed close as Metea led 32-31 at the end of three. A 12-0 run to start the fourth quarter by North game them some breathing room, but was not over yet. Senior James Parker hit a three to cut the lead to 48-46 with 18.8 seconds left. Senior Owen Thulin was fouled with 12 seconds left and had 2 free throws. Thulin just came off playing in Class 7A State Football title game on Saturday. Rust showed at a bad time as he missed both free throws. Good thing is a battle ensued and ball went off Metea. North's ball with 11.6 seconds left. Metea fouled Princeton commit senior Jack Stanton who sank both free throws to put the game away for the final margin. Thulin had a couple of key assists in the fourth quarter. North (Downers Grove ) goes to 4-0, while Metea Valley (Aurora) drops to 3-1. Here's some top performances and great matchups.
North (Downers Grove):
Jack Stanton, 6'2" senior combo guard: Junior Domimic Smith of Metea Valley (Aurora) was wearing the Princeton signee like a cheap suit most of the game. Made it tough for him to score his 12 points. In turn Stanton was still impressive as he shut down fellow Division One prospect Jack Nosek 6'8" junior wing of Metea Valley (Aurora). Held him to 7 points and Nosek fouled out.
Alex Miller, 6'5" senior guard was open from Metea following Stanton around. He'll have a lot of open shots this season and has the ability to knock them down. He had 18 points on 4 threes 3 rebounds and 2 blocks. Hit some huge shots at key times of the game.
Aidan Akkawi, 6'4" junior forward was huge filling out the stat sheet. A Division one volleyball prospect, he had 11 huge rebounds to go with 7 points 4 assists and 3 steals. he seemed to be everywhere on the court.
Metea Valley (Aurora):
Will Ashford, 6'6" senior wing: Underrated and should be amongst the area's top players. Had a double/double tonight with 16 points 10 rebounds hitting 2 threes, scoring a couple from midrange and had a couple of nice finishes at the rim. Did some rim protecting though he did not block a shot, he altered a couple. Good at getting his own shot.
James Parker, 5'11" senior point guard: Scored 20 points hitting mostly from mid range and quick drives and finishes at the rim. Hit 2 threes, one of them cut the lead to two late in the game and put some game pressure on North (Downers Grove). Added 5 rebounds
Dominick Smith, 6'1" junior guard: As mentioned earlier he did a great job defensively on Stanton. Stat line read 3 rebounds but still had a huge effect on the game.
North (Downers Grove) will be in the top 10 all season long, as they will be even tougher when Owen Thulin gets his basketball legs. He'll be more effective on both ends of the court and will hit his threes. He was 0-4 from three tonight. They need more production from Jake Reimer on the offensive end, though he had 4 rebounds 3 blocks and an assist. Stanton and Miller are big time threats from three. They could stand to have one more player who can consistently hit threes.
Metea Valley (Aurora) at #16 may be UNDERRATED!!!!! They have a solid big three of Ashford, Parker, and Nosek. They need Nosek to hit the defensive boards at a higher rate as he had only 2 rebounds tonight. He'll need to be more aggressive on the offensive end. He had 27 points and 9 threes in semifinal, but needs to average around 16. With what Ashford and Parker's production tonight they win most games and can win conference. This could be the best team in the history of the school. Potential is there.
It's early in the season so both teams will get better and a lot of upside for Metea.
Top performances:
Cam Ellis, Eisenhower (Blue Island) 12 points 10 rebounds 11 assists (triple double)
Micah Calvin, Eisenhower (Blue Island) 23 points
Ayipey Salinas, Eisenhower (Blue Island) 20 points
Darrion Pippen, Eisenhower (Blue Island) 18 points
Jonathan Calmese, Manley (Chicago) 27 points
Jaali Love, Manley (Chicago) 16 points 11 rebounds (double/double)
Ammar Ibrahim, MCC Academy (Morton Grove) 41 points 6 assists 4 steals
Youssef Hassab, MCC Academy (Morton Grove) 15 points 11 rebounds (double/double) 6 steals
Stephen Hribal, Timothy Christian (Elmhurst) 28 points
Mason Minor, Curie (Chicago) 18 points
Christian Brockett, Curie (Chicago) 14 points 10 assists (double/double)
Braylon Roman, Normal Community 18 points
Machi Nelson, Proviso West (Hillside) 17 points 4 rebounds
Eli Bach, Lincoln Way West (New Lenox) 25 points
Max Gabriel, Lincoln Way West (New Lenox) 19 points
Joe Kone, Westmont 20 points
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