In the Public League, no one ever forgets a slight from the past.
So, when Carver coach Don Pittman walks onto the court Saturday afternoon at the Pavilion before the Challenger’s Public League semifinal showdown with King, the Tribune’s No. 1-ranked team, he will find it difficult to blot out the memory of March 9, 1989.
King 68, South Shore 66.
Jamie Brandon’s Shot.
Four years may have passed, but the former South Shore coach refuses to believe that the infamous 30-foot buzzer-beater by King’s Brandon was on the square.
“Honestly,” Pittman said, “I think it came after the horn.”
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It was the most difficult loss in Pittman’s career. What made it worse was that Shore Shore had prematurely celebrated a victory, much like Marshall celebrated too early in Tuesday’s triple-overtime loss to King (which also occurred on a March 9).
Back then, Pittman’s Tars held a one-point lead with six seconds left when Neville Dyson rebounded a missed free throw by King’s Johnny Selvie. The South Shore bench went crazy as Dyson walked to the line to shoot a one-and-one with :04 remaining.
Amazingly, a lane violation by South Shore on the free throw handed the ball back to King, and Brandon took an inbounds pass, weaved his way upcourt and threw up a shot that came either a split-second before or after the horn had sounded.
It swished, of course, and the rest is history.
Past is prologue in the Public League and, finally, Pittman has earned another shot at beating King. And the clock. King-Carver begins at 4 p.m., after the Simeon-Westinghouse semifinal.
Pittman is buoyed by the belief that this time he has more ammunition, and that King looked very beatable in its scrum with Marshall.
“I think I’m going in with more experience this time,” Pittman said. “I’m trying to transfer that to the kids. Hopefully, my experience will help.”
The second-ranked Challengers (25-3) feature a front line of Johnnie Williams, Shawn Latimer and Tobias Lampkin that may be able to challenge King 7-footers Rashard Griffith and Thomas Hamilton in the low post.
“We’ll create problems that they have probably never seen before,” Pittman said. “They’ll have to play more defense than they’re used to.”
Lampkin has been averaging 26 points per game in the playoffs, but Pittman hinted that Lampkin is more inconsistent than Pittman would like.
“It’ll be interesting to see whether he shows up,” Pittman said.
King (27-0) was relatively dunk- and block-free in its struggle with Marshall. It took 15:51 before Hamilton registered the Jaguars’ first slam and 3 1/2 quarters before Griffith made their first block. King wound up with only three slams and two blocks, well below its norm, although Hamilton’s crucial block at the end of double overtime sent the game into one more session.
King coach Landon Cox is circling the wagons, with a barrage of negative publicity aimed at him and his program in the hours before the semifinal matchup.
“I seem to be a big target,” he said.
This is not the first time Cox has heard criticism about his welcoming of transfers, and it probably won’t be the last.
“Maybe they should just shut down the whole school system,” Cox said. “How can you say that transferring is wrong for athletes when other kids are transferring all over the place? What they’re saying is that it’s all right to transfer. Just don’t come to King.”
In the other semifinal, Simeon three-point ace Dexter Young, a transfer from Hyde Park, leads the Wolverines (20-8) against All-Stater Kiwane Garris and No. 7 Westinghouse (24-5).
Whether Simeon’s half-court game will click against Westinghouse’s tenacious pressure defense is the big question. If Roy Condotti’s Warriors play at the same playoff pace they set with blowouts of Red-West rivals Farragut and Whitney Young, it could get ugly in a hurry.
Young hit five three-pointer against Taft, and he and Kerry Burrell must continue to have hot hands if Simeon hopes to pull it off.
PUBLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINALS
SIMEON VS. WESTINGHOUSE
– Tip-off-2 p.m. at the Pavilion, Racine and Harrison, Chicago.
– Paul Sullivan’s pick-Westinghouse
– What to watch-Westinghouse point guard Ronald Duling runs a fast-break offense that appears to mix basketball with ballet when it’s operating at top speed. Add All-Stater Kiwane Garris and three-point threat Mark Miller on the wings, and the seventh-ranked Warriors can turn heads without ever making a slam. The defending city champions are looking for the respect that some of the players believe has been lacking, playing in the shadow of King all season despite having beaten King for the city title last March. Simeon will likely try to slow down the pace with its halfcourt attack, which is heavy on the perimeter-shooting. Unlike the other semifinalists, Simeon does not have a “name” player to speak of, featuring a balanced offense led by Kerry Burrell, Bryant Notree and Dexter Young.
KING VS. CARVER
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– Tip-off-4 p.m. at the Pavilion, Racine and Harrison, Chicago.
– Paul Sullivan’s pick-King
– What to watch-Word out of King is that coach Landon Cox is worried that Carver guard Lamont Cooper, who transferred from King at midseason, is passing the Jaguars’ plays on to Carver coach Don Pittman. If top-ranked King’s two seven-footers live up to their press clippings, it shouldn’t matter if Cox tells Carver what play he has called every trip downcourt. Seniors Rashard Griffith and Thomas Hamilton know what is at stake. If King goes a third straight year without a city title it, along with Cox, will share the brunt of the blame. Carver point guard Michael Irvin, who also began his career at King, matches against King’s Ronald Minter, who inherited the position Irvin originally sought. King guard DeWarren Stewart, who once played for Pittman at South Shore, is another transfer in the spotlight in what could be called the “Transfer Classic.”