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Brian Flaherty sat quietly, surrounded by teenagers with their heads in their phones.

It was the night before the Lincoln-Way West team he coaches was set to make its first appearance in the Class 3A semifinals, and the state tournament organizers’ attempts at getting players from different teams to socialize was not going well.

“I’m looking around the banquet and our kids were no different than the others,” Flaherty said. “They sat kids from different teams together, and every kid has their phone out, not one is talking.

“Then I look over at Marco, and he is holding court with 10 kids and a couple assistant coaches, just going off and talking about everything.”

Marco is Marco Pettinato, and even under ordinary circumstances he’s rarely at a loss for words.

So it’s no wonder he had plenty to say after engineering two upsets, including one of the biggest the state playoffs has witnessed in years, to earn a spot at the state-tournament table.

And he wasn’t done there, helping lift Lincoln-Way West past another established power and into the 3A championship game, where the Cinderella run ended one win short of what would have been among the most surprising Illinois state championships ever.

The personable Pettinato, a 6-foot-2 junior best described as a power point guard, is the Tribune/WGN-9 Athlete of the Month for March.

“He is a bright kid, real interesting, always talking,” Flaherty said. “He is substance over style. He can lead you in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, a couple games he led us in blocks. He is just a basketball player.”

Heavy hitter

Pettinato learned the game from the inside out.

While Lincoln-Way West was struggling in the early years — the Warriors went 14-104 from 2009-10 to 2012-13, their first four seasons fielding a varsity team — Pettinato was providing hope for the future.

Playing in the post, he led Liberty Junior High in New Lenox to consecutive fourth-place finishes in the junior high state tournament.

A few Catholic schools took note of his ability, but were more interested in him as a football player.

“I weighed 235 pounds my freshman year,” said Pettinato, who was listed at 195 as a junior. “I had a good moment with my trainer. He put me through an awful workout. Five minutes in I realized I was not in good shape at all. I knew I needed to improve my body.

“I cut down to about 200 in a matter of a month. At that point I was slimmer but I didn’t have the muscle I needed. I’ve worked hard on that. It is the reason I’ve made a lot of improvements in my game.”

Slimmer and skilled — “Every big wants to be a guard,” he said, “and every guard wants to be a big,” — Pettinato moved to the backcourt as a sophomore for the Warriors’ new head coach.

Flaherty was aware of Pettinato’s reputation as a player. His personality caught him off guard at first.

“The first couple practices I’m wondering how I’m going to shut this kid up,” Flaherty said. “But the more I saw, I thought, ‘This is great.’ You think he is messing around but he is talking about something that just transpired on the court. He is very good like that.”

Flaherty realized he had the leader he needed to turn the program around, one with a tremendous understanding of the game and a GPA north of 4.0.

He was a sophomore, though, so Flaherty never declared Pettinato the team leader. He didn’t have to.

“We never really had a conversation, ‘You are the leader,'” Pettinato said. “It is just kind of natural for a point guard to have that kind of role.”

The result was the first winning season in the school’s brief history, a 21-8 campaign in which Pettinato averaged more than 12 points per game and Lincoln-Way West played for a sectional title but lost to Hillcrest.

Time to shine

Pettinato continued to reshape his body and became a dominant player this season, averaging better than 20 points, five rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.

With a varsity roster of nine players, the Warriors started slow as three joined late because of the football team’s extended postseason run, so their 19-9 record prior to their 61-56 “upset” of Hillcrest in the sectional final was a bit deceiving.

“There was no reason we thought we’d lose to Hillcrest,” Pettinato said. “We definitely thought we’d beat them.”

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Next up was Morgan Park, which had eventual Mr. Basketball winner Charlie Moore, a Division I prospect at virtually every spot on the roster and a streak of three straight seasons advancing to state.

Morgan Park also had an 11-point lead in the second quarter, but Lincoln-Way West rallied for a 68-60 victory that sent them to Peoria, where they beat Peoria Manual in the semifinals before coming up short against Belleville Althoff in the final.

“Once we started beating some of those teams, the feeling was like we were playing with house money,” Pettinato said. “We had no pressure.

“When we played Morgan Park we would say, ‘What is the worst thing that can happen? We turn the ball over, they get a dunk and we lose by 30. That is what people expect anyway.’ That really allowed us to play freely.”

Option play

Reputations with college coaches are usually built in the off-season, on the AAU circuit, then reinforced during the winter.

Pettinato, as usual, is doing it a little differently, having opened eyes with Lincoln-Way West’s postseason run that will be watching him closely this spring and summer.

The Ivy League may be an option, and he’ll have no shortage of high-academic Division II and III suitors.

If he doesn’t end up playing Division I basketball, he wants it to be on his terms.

“I think I deserve it,” Pettinato said. “I am taking it personally. A big thing they look at is potential. I put up good numbers, I’ve proved it as a player, beat guys who are highly touted. I definitely think I deserve the option because of what I put forth.”

Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.

‘Instant replay’

Marco Pettinato will be featured during a segment on WGN-9’s “Instant Replay” Sunday at 9:40 p.m. If you miss it, watch the video at prepsplus.com

2015-16 athletes of the month

September: Michael Johnson, Joliet Catholic football

October: Stephanie Dolehide, Hinsdale Central tennis

November: Quayvon Skanes, Phillips football

December: Devin Gage, Curie basketball

January: Mike Smith, Fenwick basketball

February: Isaiah White, Oak Park wrestling