It’s rare during the season for high school boys basketball players to have off Friday night, but St. Joseph senior guards Jordan Ash and Glynn Watson were looking last week for a way to keep busy.
Ash and Watson had been preparing to play North Lawndale Friday night in the Class 3A Westinghouse Sectional final, but that game was canceled. The Chargers were awarded the victory when North Lawndale was forced by Chicago Public Schools officials to forfeit after players and fans were involved in a melee during the postgame handshake with Marshall on March 11 following the Phoenix’s sectional semifinal win.
Ash and Watson came up with other plans. The Northwestern-bound Ash, who lives in Bolingbrook, was going to attend the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional final, where the host Raiders defeated Neuqua Valley 59-56.
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The Nebraska-bound Watson initially considered traveling to Lake County to see the Class 3A Vernon Hills Sectional final, where St. Patrick rolled past Lakes 48-33. Instead, Watson said he decided to relax and watch the Vernon Hills Sectional final online
St. Joseph (26-6) was to face the Shamrocks (22-8) in the Hoffman Estates Supersectional at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The winner advances downstate to the state semifinals to take on either Peoria Manual or Rockford Lutheran at 2 p.m. Friday at Carver Arena in Bloomington.
St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore said Friday that he and his staff still intended to travel to Vernon Hills for a rare scouting opportunity. He was going to hold practice Saturday back in Westchester.
After a 1 1/2-hour practice Friday, both Ash and Watson insisted they would have preferred to play the sectional game..
“Unfortunately, (the forfeit) had to happen,” Ash said. “When the decision was made, really it was out of our control. There is nothing we can do.”
In a matter of hours March 12, St. Joseph went from having the sectional final moved to Young, to not playing at all.
The IHSA sent out a press release announcing the forfeit by North Lawndale at 5:47 p.m. St.. Joseph did not have classes due to teachers institute day, so Pingatore notified his team by text message around 6 p.m.
Ash, Watson and their teammates followed the news through Twitter and knew they would not play even before receiving Pingatore’s text.
“I’m happy we made it the supersectional,” Watson said. “Still, I’d rather play to stay in our routine.”
Twitter @geomwilcox