Hales Franciscan ran into a buzzsaw Saturday night in the title game of the Luther North Tournament-a buzzsaw from Taft.
No. 14 Taft (10-1) went on a 17-2 run to take a 35-18 second-quarter lead and was ahead 41-24 at halftime of its 77-58 victory. Enoch Davis scored 20 points and Thomas Streety 19.
”I thought we played exceptionally well in the first half,” Taft coach Frank Hood said. ”We had some real lapses to start the third quarter, but we knew we had a difficult assignment today, and we came through.”
Michael Hermon scored 23 points with five rebounds for Hales (10-2). Tunji Thurmon added 17.
No. 17 Orr (13-1) used its pressure defense to go on a 17-4 binge in the second quarter and take third place 73-59 over St. Rita (6-6). Rita didn`t score in the second quarter until 40 seconds remained.
Calvin Galloway led Orr with 27 points and seven steals. Dwayne Funches added 22 points with nine rebounds. Byron Jackson led St. Rita with 18 points. York Tournament-By the time Chris Collins cooled off in the title game, it was too late for Thornwood (6-6). Collins pumped in 26 of his 30 points in the first half to lead No. 20 Glenbrook North (12-1) to a 78-54 victory.
Glenbrook led 50-22 at the half with tourney MVP Collins hitting 4 of 5 three-pointers and 10 of 11 from the free-throw line.
Dion Hatchett led Thornwood with 14 points and Roger Carter with 12.
Chicago Public Schools Tournament-Lindblom (5-4) went scoreless for 6 1/2 minutes of the second quarter against Crane (2-5)-a string of nine missed shots and four errant free throws-but survived to take the title 54-44.
Chris Brown ended the futility with a jumper two minutes before the half. Miles Livingston hit 9 of 10 free throws in the second half, part of his 17 points, while Lindblom hit 19 of 26 free throws.
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Third place went to Foreman 77-64 over Harlan (3-4). Chris Key with 27 points and Marvelle Primer with 26 led Foreman (4-5).
Hampshire Tournament-Robert Vinson scored 18 points and Kareem Daniel added 16 to lead Morgan Park Academy to a 62-51 victory over Hampshire in the title game. Dan Thompson led Hampshire with 18 points.
Kankakee Tournament-Antwan Kennedy poured in 22 ponts and David Allen added 17 to push Kankakee (12-1) to the title 80-69 over Mt. Carmel (8-4). Antoine Walker topped Mt. Carmel with 19.
Carmel squelched a Corliss rally with Jermaine Williams (15 points)
hitting key free throws in a 55-51 third-place win. Andrew Carothers led Corliss with 20.
Young took the consolation title 73-68 over Rantoul behind Nicholas Bean`s 19 points.
Lemont Tournament-Kevin Denson hit a three-pointer to put Providence up by four with 31 seconds left, and it held on to win its third Lemont title in four years 55-54 over Illiana Christian.
Illiana (11-2) held its last lead at 45-44 midway through fourth quarter on a basket by Mike DeJong. Providence (8-3) took the lead for good on a three-pointer by Charles Jones (17 points).
Jones was tournament co-MVP with Illiana`s Lucas Huisman, who scored 23 points with 12 rebounds. Denson added 15 for Providence. Todd Dykstra scored 16 for Illiana.
Lincoln-Way Tournament-Chris Gandy and Matt Burlend scored 12 points each to help set up No. 7 Bradley-Bourbonnais (11-0) for a shot at the title of the round-robin tournament with a 43-34 win over Robeson (7-6). Lincoln-Way (2-7) bombed Gage Park 71-50 with Aaron Little scoring 18. Bo Jackson scored 19 for Gage Park (2-10). Thornton Fractional North (7-5) whipped Kenwood 61-50 behind Joe Landeck (20 points). Ronald Porter scored 20 for Kenwood (1-8). Richards
(8-1) roared past Julian (7-3) 65-59 with Courtland Byrd scoring 21 points. Desmond Smith led Julian with 18.
Luther South Tournament-Kerry Brown pumped in 39 points to lead Curie
(11-2) to an 88-81 victory over Thornton Fractional South (7-5) in the title game. Bryant Clair added 13 points for Curie, nine in the second quarter. Brown scored 17 in the fourth quarter. Milan Hayden with 23 points and Justin Sealy with 19 led T.F. South.
Andrew Hoard pumped in 26 points and Antoine Smith added 13 for Washington (4-7) in its 51-45 third-place win over Kelly (3-7).
Pekin Tournament-Hubbard got 30 points from Reggie Rose to top Washington 61-55 and take the consolation title, the first of any kind out of Pekin for a Public League team in 27 years.
Pontiac Tournament-No. 13 Oak Park bounced back from its first loss of the season to whip Danville 65-48 in the third-place game. Rob Bruce led Oak Park (10-1) with 15 points. Demond Blunt added 13. Peoria Manual took the title 56-46 over Peoria Richwoods. In its semifinal, Oak Park fell 52-50 to Manual. Jabari Hearn scored 13 points and Bruce added 11 for Oak Park.
Rich South Tournament-No. 10 Bloom Trail overcame 26 turnovers and needed overtime to win its quarterfinal 65-61 over Crete-Monee and stay alive in the tournament.
Bloom Trailed (9-0) lagged by as many as 20 points in the first half and still trailed by six with 1:18 to go in the third quarter when Shawn Aldridge (22 points) scored twice and Rodney Jackson hit a layup to tie it at 42.
Crete`s Mack Newson made a tip-in with a second to go in regulation that tied it at 55. In overtime, Zeke Clerk (16 points, eight rebounds) put Bloom Trail up 62-58 with an offensive rebound and basket. Gordon Sharkey scored five points in the overtime.
Brian McCoy led Crete-Monee (6-5) with 25 points.
Cordell Wise`s free throw with five seconds to play gave Rich South (6-5) its final point in a 55-52 win over St. Laurence (4-6). John Jones led Rich South with 25 points; Wise added 14. Dan Herbeck had 19 points and 10 rebounds for St. Laurence.
Dan Darrah sank a half-court shot to end the third quarter, then No. 16 Hillcrest (7-1) scored the first five of the fourth on its way to a 55-50 quarterfinal victory over Stagg (4-5). Todd Gillespie led Hillcrest with 17 points. Lambros Proutsos led Stagg with 20.
Rich Central (10-2) put on a 15-9 burst in the fourth quarter of its 44-39 victory over Shepard (8-3). Shawn McGee (12 points) broke a 35-35 tie with three straight jump shots. Tom Budds led Shepard with 11 points.
St. Gregory Tournament-O`Darie Weathers scored 17 points to lead University High to a 60-29 rout of Chicago St. Joseph and the championship of the round-robin tournament. St. Gregory topped Amundsen 63-57 behind Pete Harris with 13 points.
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