Records: H-F 4-0, Hillcrest 3-1.
The game story: Homewood-Flossmoor didn’t forget what happened last season during the Chicago Heights Classic against Hillcrest.
A 27-point Hillcrest romp lifted the Hawks into the title game and left H-F in doubt and dismay.
In this season’s title game Friday at Marian Catholic, the teams squared off for the first time since that one-sided affair. This time there was no doubt for the Vikings, who built a big first-quarter lead on their way to a 67-52 victory.
Guard Kevin Dillard led the way, scoring 21 points to go with four assists and three steals.
Complementing Dillard was fellow senior Supo Sanni, who came off the bench to score 17 points.
“I was late for practice this morning, so I didn’t start, so I wanted to come off the bench and play hard,” Sanni said.
Sanni, a wide receiver on the football team that advanced to last weekend’s state semifinals, scored four of his points during a 13-0 first-quarter run that gave H-F a 15-7 lead.
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He added nine more in the final quarter to keep the Hawks at bay. They got no closer than eight points in the second half.
Dillard, considered one of the top point guards in the state, scored eight points in the second quarter. He hit the game-winner Wednesday against Bloom to put H-F in the final.
“We got embarrassed last season, and we wanted to show [Hillcrest] we a had a better team,” Dillard said. “I give the football players (Sanni, Russell Ellington, Michael Buchanan) a lot of credit for coming right back and being hungry to win.”
Travis Scott led Hillcrest with 15 points, and DeShawn Dockery added 12. Buchanan had 11 rebounds for H-F.