North Chicago finishes second in 3A
North Chicago was attempting to become Lion tamers in the Class 3A boys basketball state tournament this weekend in Peoria.
In Friday's semifinals, the Warhawks stunned the top-ranked Springfield Lanphier Lions to earn a shot at becoming Lake County's first boys basketball state champion.
But the Peoria Central Lions had a little more bite Saturday afternoon in hometown Carver Arena as they won the school's fifth state title with a 72-64 victory.
North Chicago (25-7) all-time scoring leader Aaron Simpson closed his brilliant career with a game-high 26 points on 10-for-26 shooting from the field. The Illinois State-bound guard was 3-for-13 from 3-point range.
"We made a step better than last year," said North Chicago coach and alum Gerald Coleman of a fourth-place 3A state finish. "I'm proud of my kids. We played hard all year.
"I don't think we played one of our best games but the players that were out there, I thought they left it out on the court."
Aldonis Foote scored 17 points as Central (28-3) matched the state mark of five titles by cross-town rival Manual and Simeon, which was going for its record-breaking sixth crown in Saturday night's 4A final.
All-stater Trey Kellum had 14 points and 15 rebounds and Jerell White had 13 points and 9 assists as Central shot 52 percent from the field (25-for-48) en route to its first title since back-to-back crowns led by Shaun Livingston in 2003-04.
"We had a new slogan this year, 'Pride of Peoria,'" said Central coach Dan Ruffin, who took over the program after the last title. "I think we stepped up to that slogan. Peoria High is the pride of Peoria right now.
"My kids were fantastic today. They maintained their composure, they handled all the obstacles put before them and they got the job done."
North Chicago led 11-4 and 18-15 after a quarter. Central took the lead for good with a 10-point second-quarter run and built its largest lead of 54-39 midway through the third quarter.
North Chicago, which shot 37 percent (20-for-54), could get no closer than 7 points. JaVairius Amos-Mays had 17 points and 8 rebounds and Kurt Hall had 11 points and 8 rebounds.
"We weren't ourselves in this game," Coleman said, "and this wasn't the North Chicago team that got us here.
"To put it all in a nutshell, second place, a whole lot of teams would love to be in that position. It's great for our community."
Hillcrest 72, Springfield Lanphier 67: Jalen Loving had 17 points and 13 rebounds to lead four Hillcrest (25-6) double-figure scorers in Saturday afternoon's 3A third-place game. Larry Austin Jr. scored 18 points to lead top-ranked Lanphier (28-5).