If anyone deserves an epilogue to his high school basketball career, it’s Tyrone Kent.
Twice now, misfortune has stolen what should have been a glorious final chapter of a stage of his basketball career.
The first time was when his mother died shortly before his team was to play in the Chicago Public Schools 8th-grade championship game. Kent missed the contest.
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The second time was March 18, when the 6-foot-5-inch Crane senior forward was supposed to play in the Class AA state quarterfinals. That plan ended when he underwent an emergency appendectomy, but a doctor’s OK now has given him a second chance.
Thursday night, he scored 17 points and finished second in the slam-dunk contest as his North team defeated the South 108-83 in the Chicago Public League Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Game at Crane. Saturday at the DePaul Athletic Center, he will play for Team Chicago against Team New York in the Old Spice Red Zone All-Star Shootout.
“I just want to go out and have some fun,” he said Tuesday.
The fun stopped for Kent on March 15, the day after Crane qualified for the Elite Eight for the first time in 33 years by defeating New Trier in a supersectional game at the United Center. That was one of the best moments of his life, but the next morning he started to feel something on his right side.
It was moderate discomfort at first, and Kent figured it was just something he had eaten. By midnight, however, the pain had become sharp, and he headed for the emergency room at Advocate Bethany Hospital.
Tests revealed he had an inflamed appendix, and a doctor said it had to come out that day. Kent’s first thought was not about the surgery, but rather that he would miss his team’s quarterfinal matchup in Peoria against Carbondale, two days later.
“I was kind of mad I wouldn’t be able to play,” said Kent, acknowledging that his anger was mixed with tears. “It was my last year. I wanted to go Downstate.”
Kent’s teammates visited him shortly before his surgery. When they left without him, Kent, who had dreamed for years of playing in the Elite Eight, cried some more.
“It was really, really frustrating,” he said.
He returned home that Friday morning, shortly before the Cougars played with “Ty 22” written on both their shoes and headbands. Kent was sore from his surgery, and watching the telecast of his team’s 78-55 loss didn’t make him feel any better.
“It made me just want to fly down there,” he said. “I was just wishing I was out there playing with them.”
So was Crane coach Anthony Longstreet: Kent had averaged 24 points and eight rebounds a game.
“I was crying too,” he said with a laugh about his star’s absence. Then Longstreet added more seriously: “Ty is a good kid. He’ll do anything you ask him to do. You hate to see bad things happen to good people.”
For what it was worth, Kent got a ride Saturday to Peoria. He watched Crane junior guard Sherron Collins accept an all-state award and got a taste of life in the Elite Eight.
It felt good to be a Cougar again, he said, even if it did hurt every time his teammates made him laugh.
“I was just glad to see them,” he said.
What he really wanted, though, was another taste of hoops, and soon. He got his wish last week when his stitches came out and a doctor gave him the OK to hit the all-star-game circuit.
A basketball court is a place of refuge for Kent, a place where, he said, “I can get my mind off stuff.”
The result, Longstreet said, is two Tyrone Kents, a quiet and reserved one off the court and a more talkative and assertive one on it.
“It’s like Clark Kent and Superman,” Longstreet said. “When he’s on the court, he’s transformed into another person.”
Kent is one of the top unsigned seniors in Illinois. He has drawn attention from the likes of Bradley, Illinois State, Marquette and Nebraska but has not taken any campus visits. His college destination may hinge on academic issues.
Kent is a Tribune All-State special-mention selection, but Longstreet believes he is underrated as a college prospect, in part because he frequently played out of position as a power forward to help his team instead of on the perimeter.
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“That’s a testament to Ty because he sacrificed a lot,” Longstreet said. “But true basketball aficionados could see this guy is a special player.”
Especially when he gets the chance to play.
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