Stineman sees North stars fall short

The Chicago High School Classic All-Star Game was an event that reminded five Daily Herald-area players how much they love basketball.

Stevenson's Kevin Stineman, Jacobs' John Moran, Driscoll's Jake Lindfors, Fenton's Gozie Umeadi and Bartlett's Kamil Janton all represented the North squad, which fell to the South 118-108 Friday at Niles North High School.

Stineman did not play. The SIU-Edwardsville-bound guard is recovering from a torn meniscus he had 'scoped after the season ended. Still, he managed to have a great time.

"I had a lot of fun watching all my friends," Stineman said. "It was fun to see everyone you read about in the paper."

And it helped fill a basketball void for many of the best area players.

"Coming out here definitely makes me miss it," said Lindfors, the Albany-bound forward who led all area players with 11 points and 8 rebounds. "Luckily, we all get another chance to play before we all go on to play at the next level."

"It's been tough not having (basketball at Jacobs) the last 3, 4 weeks," Moran added. "So this was fun to come out here with all these great players. It's a good note to leave high school basketball on."

Moran represented well, as the Northern Iowa-bound guard finished with 10 points, 2 assists, 3 steals and 3 rebounds. He also finished second in the 3-point contest behind AAU teammate Chris Parrish from Riverside-Brookfield.

Glenbard West's John Shurna was also on the North roster, but was unable to attend the event. He originally was supposed to be one of the players participating in the dunk contest. Umeadi was one of the seven dunkers, but did not advance to the next round. Home crowd favorite Josh Evans won the contest.

"That was really fun," said Umeadi, who finished with 6 points, including a pair of dunks. "Everyone in that contest can jump, but it was hard to make dunks. But it was a great dunk contest and great all-star game. It was something I really liked being a part of."

Umeadi earned the Shaun P. Napatal Academic Achievement award for his excellence in the classroom.

"It was nice they gave this to me," Umeadi said. "I didn't expect this at all."

The 6-foot-9 Janton, who will be playing at Eastern Michigan, finished with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 1 block. He was one of several players to visit Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago with Umeadi, Richards' Tommie Thomas and Whitney Young's A.J. Rompza on April 1.

"It's nice to give back to the community," Janton said. "It was a good experience."