Through his first seven seasons as Lyons boys basketball coach, Tom Sloan never had a freshman play on any of his varsity teams.
This season, he has two of them.
Guard Tyrese Shines became the first freshman to play for Sloan when he started Lyons’ 84-53 season-opening loss to defending Class 4A state champion Stevenson Nov. 23 in the Lyons Thanksgiving tournament. His classmate, guard Nolan Niego, came off the bench in that game and scored nine points.
Ever since, Shines has started and Niego has been one of the team’s first reserves.
Lyons picked up its first West Suburban Silver win Friday, Jan. 8, with a 59-53 overtime victory at Hinsdale Central (8-7, 3-1). Lyons’ only senior starter, guard Cawone Hester, scored all 15 of his points in the second half.
Leading scorer Connor Niego, Nolan’s 6-foot-8 junior brother, scored a game-high 25 points and had 15 rebounds. He was selected to the all-tournament team last month at York’s Jack Tosh.
The only scoring by the freshmen was Shines’ 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, but Lyons (5-8, 1-3) is remaining focused on preparing its young team for upcoming seasons.
“Tyrese and Nolan get better every day in practice; they are learning from their mistakes, and playing better every game as well,” Sloan said.
Shines and Nolan Niego were competitors in eighth grade when Shines played for Gurrie Junior High in La Grange and Niego played for McClure in Western Springs. But they were teammates for the same AAU team, Chicago LockDown in Willow Springs.
“Tyrese and Nolan joined us over the summer and played very well in summer league against very tough competition,” Sloan said. “Tyrese has very good instincts. He is a strong ballhandler, passer, shooter and rebounder. Defensively, he has quick hands and anticipates very well.”
Shines scored a career-high 14 points in a 68-52 loss at York on Dec. 4. Nolan Niego’s best output was 13 points in a win over St. Patrick, 60-52, Dec. 26 at York.
Shines is averaging 8.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and four assists, while Nolan Niego puts up 4.5 points, two rebounds and two assists per game.
“I played OK in my first game,” Shines said. “I was a little shocked how fast the pace was.”
With 6-4 junior Noah — Connor and Nolan’s cousin — also on the varsity, Lyons next season could have four members of the Niego family on the varsity. Noah’s younger brother Kyle Niego, a guard, is one of two freshmen on Lyons’ sophomore team this season.
“I would love that,” said Nolan Niego, who has another brother, Grant, playing on the eighth-grade team at McClure.
Missed by a year
Recent Lyons star Harrison Niego played three varsity seasons and would have seemed to be a likely candidate to become Sloan’s first freshman varsity player. But the current walk-on at Indiana did not reach the varsity until his sophomore season and became a three-year starter.
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He scored a team-high 18 points in his first varsity game, a 51-36 season-opening win over Argo Nov. 21, 2012.
Twitter @geomwilcox