Exciting opening night. Two overtime games, an upset!!! 1A Unity Christian (South Holland) wakes up the state!!! Point guard matchup in second game good as advertised and then some!!!!

Sophomores (Class of 2028) had some good performances around the state tonight. Top performances will be posted after game articles. Let's get to it:

UNITY CHRISTIAN (SOUTH HOLLAND) 68 HINSDALE CENTRAL 62 OVERTIME:

Unity Christian is a Class 1A school. Won a regional last season, lost a lot of players but still have some talent left. They are guard oriented and attack off the bounce getting to the rim for baskets or drop off passes. Did it continuously vs Hinsdale Central. Play was sloppy as is usual for an opener. Even with that it was a very high quality of play by both teams. Unity Christian shot 1 for 14 from three but was effective at the rim. Game was tied at 10 after one quarter. Unity Christian led 26-25 at half as 6'0" senior guard Malachi O'Neal was scoring attacking the rim. He had 10 points and 6 rebounds by halftime. Donovan O'Neil got to the line four times in first half and hit all of them with 3 assists. Senior Cole Bero of Hinsdale Central had 12 points at the half keeping his team in it. Third quarter Unity Christian kept a steady lead with a 47-42 lead going into the fourth quarter. They even had a lead with 12 seconds left inbounding the ball with an two point lead but threw the ball away. Senior Kris Dowell attacked the rim and scored a layup with 8 seconds left. Unity Christian pushed the ball down the floor and O'Neil shot a three that was blocked by Dowell and game went into overtime tied at 57. Unity Christian made some big defensive plays, rebounds, and attacked the rim for baskets in overtime. They played most of the fourth quarter and overtime without their big man 6'6" junior Vincent Allen who was crashing the glass and scoring at the rim. His stats will be posted further down the page. For Hinsdale Central junior Dominic Walker caught fire from three in the second half going 4 for 6 from that range for all 12 of his points. 6'0" junior point guard RJ Lewis came alive from mid range scoring 13 second half points. Unity Christian hit free throws in overtime and a breakaway basket by O'Neal for the final margin. Unity Christian will be a contender for Class 1A state title.

Top performers:

Unity Christian (South Holland) (1-0):

Senior Malachi O'Neal 20 points 10 rebounds (double/double) 3 steals

Junior Donovan O'Neil 14 points 5 rebounds 3 assists 2 steals

Junior Vincent Allen 12 points 9 rebounds

Senior Robert Allen 7 points 6 rebounds 3 steals

Hinsdale Central (0-1):

Junior RJ Lewis 17 points 5 rebounds 1 block

Junior Dominic Walker 12 points (4 threes) 2 steals

Senior Kris Dowell 13 points

Senior Cole Bero 12 points 3 steals 1 block

#10 LINCOLN PARK (CHICAGO) 87 #25 SOUTH (DOWNERS GROVE) 78 OVERTIME:

This game had a bunch of ebbs and flows. A bunch of turnovers (33 by the count of a friend sitting behind me) for both teams combined. Lincoln Park had 4 players (both post players seniors Larry Harris and Jalil Amous that fouled out) in foul trouble. Amous received a technical foul in second quarter for taunting that sent him to the bench with three, Senior Ahmad Lee for throwing the ball off the backboard on a dead ball in third quarter, which gave him his fourth foul, he had to go to the bench. Game was tight most of the way as they were tied after first quarter, Lincoln Park went into locker room with a 39-32 halftime lead, though senior Adam Flowers had 15 at the half for South (Downers Grove). South took a 55-54 lead into the fourth quarter. South had control of the game throughout the fourth quarter, till some missed layups and turnover allowed Lincoln Park to catch up. South had a 70-69 when freshman Noah Young, who started the game for Lincoln Park, hit a huge three off a feed from Lee to give his team a 72-70 lead with 15 seconds left. South took the ball out and Flowers drove coast to coast for a layup to tie the game at 72 into overtime. Lincoln Park owned the overtime as Lee did a little bit of everything in the period to put game out of reach. Senior Jaylen Dickerson of Lincoln Park played the entire game including overtime, handled the ball while the Lions stars were on the bench in foul trouble to keep them in the game. He also guarded Flowers most of the game making him work. Flowers had a game high 33 points to try and keep his team in it. His fellow running mate senior Sean Day had a bad shooting game. He was 3 for 15 from three and 6 for 22 for the game. Dickerson is a very good football player as well so not sure which sport he'll pick for college.

Top performances:

Lincoln Park (Chicago) (1-0):

Ahmad Lee 23 points 8 rebounds 6 assists 5 steals 1 block

Jaylen Dickerson 26 points 5 rebounds 5 assists 2 blocks

Jalil Amous 16 points 4 rebounds

Larry Harris 9 points 6 rebounds

Noah Young 7 points 3 rebounds 2 steals

South (Downers Grove) (0-1):

Adam Flowers 33 points 10 rebounds (double/double)

Sean Day 20 points 5 rebounds 3 assists 1 block

Top performances in state:

Ryan Dinnon, Andrew (Tinley Park) 21 points 20 rebounds (20/20 double/double) (junior)

Jacobi Walls, Hyde Park Academy (Chicago) 10 points 15 rebounds (double/double)

Josh Abushanab, Glenbard West (Glen Ellyn) 20 points

Aiden Horton, Perspectives Leadership (Chicago) 19 points

Keiyon Thomas, Perspectives Leadership (Chicago) 18 points 8 rebounds

Jayden Taylor, Perspectives Leadership (Chicago) 11 points 10 assists (double/double) (junior)

Levante Winfield, Christ The King College Prep (Chicago) 19 points 8 steals

Amarion Bates, Christ The King College Prep (Chicago) 13 points 9 rebounds

Matt Welch, Glenbard North (Carol Stream) 23 points

Evan Nagler, Deerfield 24 points (5/7 three) 8 rebounds

Jake Pollack, Deerfield 16 points 6 rebounds 1 block (Dartmouth commit)

Mark Render, Antioch 16 points (4/6 three) 5 rebounds

George Gray, Oak Park River Forest 19 points (junior)

Logan Johnson, Oak Park River Forest 18 points

Tray Alford, Christian (Yorkville) 22 points (junior)

Jayden Riley, Christian (Yorkville) 16 points (Southern Illinois Edwardsville commit)

Adin Smajilovic, Mather (Chicago) 27 points

Travis Brown Jr, West Aurora 19 points (junior)

Jaden Matthews, West Aurora 16 points (junior)

Ethan Vahl, Oswego 30 points (sophomore)

Ethan Matz, Carmel Catholic (Mundelein) 22 points 7 rebounds

Brandon Schreiber, Maine East (Park Ridge) 30 points

Jayden Dozie, Maine East (Park Ridge) 22 points (sophomore0

Joe Niego, Brother Rice (Chicago) 17 points

Kavon Ammons, Rich Township (Richton Park) 21 points

KJ Miller, East (Plainfield) 18 points 7 rebounds 5 assists 2 blocks (junior)

Will O'Commy, Lindblom (Chicago) 41 points

Grant Smith, Lyons Township (LaGrange) 34 points 9 rebounds (sophomore)

Michael Nee, Glenbard East (Lombard) 25 points 11 rebounds (double/double) 5 assists (South Dakota commit)

Ben Newcomb, Lakes (Lake Villa) 29 points (junior)

Trey Burditt, Normal Community 17 points

Chase Kasten, Normal Community 15 points (sophomore)

Bryson Mossman, Routt (Jacksonville) 30 points

Chris Bolte, St Ignatius College Prep (Chicago) 18 points (Yale commit)

Edwin Karnauchovas, Buffalo Grove 24 points (sophomore)

Alex Sirbu, Buffalo Grove 25 points (junior)

Daniel Odhiambo, Vernon Hills 20 points

Rashaun Porter, DePaul College Prep (Chicago) 26 points 9 rebounds (Toledo commit)

Rykan Woo, DePaul College Prep (Chicago) (Brown commit)

Joey Cwik, Bartlett 25 points (junior)

Reggie Stevens, St Laurence (Burbank) 21 points (junior)

Jacob Johnson, St Laurence (Burbank) 15 points

Gavynn Reilly, Agricultural Science (Chicago) 16 points

Ben Whorlow, St Francis (Wheaton) 20 points 12 rebounds (double/double) (junior)

Chris Chiles, Francis Parker (Chicago) 16 points 10 rebounds (double/double)

Zane Schneider, Lemont 15 points (junior)

Preston Morel, Christian (Aurora) 17 points (junior)

Joe Lubbe, York (Elmhurst) 18 points

Will Sieck, Glenbard South (Glen Ellyn) 19 points

Quinn Sinzer, Prospect (Mount Prospect) 17 points

Austin Carlsen, Wauconda 21 points 8 rebounds (junior)

Alex Ortega, Wauconda 18 points

Tony Salemi, Wauconda 17 points

Keison Peoples, Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin 33 points (Winona State commit)

Cole Christian, Lane Tech College Prep (Chicago) 17 points 12 rebounds (double/double)

John Lamperis, Lane Tech College Prep (Chicago) 16 points

Matt Szafoni, Lane Tech College Prep (Chicago) 13 points 10 rebounds (double/double) (Illinois State commit)

Bryce Wegrzyn, Libertyville 23 points 10 rebounds (Winona State commit)

Nedas Venckus, Lockport Township 15 points (junior)

Nojus Venckus, Lockport Township 15 points (junior)

Dave Malley, Marmion Academy (Aurora) 17 points 6 steals (junior)

Ali Tharwani, Marmion Academy (Aurora) 17 points 5 rebounds

Sherrod Clark, Central (Champaign) 23 points 5 rebounds 3 steals

DeAndre Marks, Heights (Peoria) 18 points

Tamarius Berry, Heights (Peoria) 16 points (freshman)

Lester Watson, Thornwood (South Holland) 33 points (sophomore)

Elon Henderson, Leo Catholic (Chicago) 4/4 from three hits game winner (freshman)

Kalvin Leonard, St Francis De Sales (Chicago) 17 points 5 rebounds (sophomore)

Adam Bauer, Cary Grove 17 points 15 rebounds (double/double)

Dylan Dumele, Cary Grove 15 points

Trey Toussaint, Johnsburg 17 points

Simereon Carter, Waukegan 27 points (7 dunks) 9 rebounds

Panayiotis Sotos, Maine South (Park Ridge) 22 points 7 rebounds 5 assists 2 steals