Nojel Eastern and his Evanston teammates arrived at their school at 3:30 a.m. last Monday for a bus ride to O’Hare.
They had a three-hour layover in Atlanta and arrived at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center at 3:30 p.m. for a 6 p.m. game against a strong opponent from Jacksonville, Fla., Providence.
“We knew Providence was going to be a real challenge for us,” Evanston coach Mike Ellis said. “When we won that game (53-52) I felt this was going to be a good trip.”
Eastern, a Purdue recruit, is a big name locally, but at a major national event like the Beach Ball Classic in South Carolina, his presence did not create the kind of buzz that made Evanston one of the pre-tournament favorites.
Facing multiple Division I recruits in every round — Evanston beat Pace (Ga.) and Duke-bound center Wendell Carter, a consensus top-five player nationally, 57-44 in the semifinals — the Wildkits were just a break or two away from winning the tournament title.
Instead, they were beaten by Philadelphia Imhotep 78-76 on a tip-in at the final buzzer of a see-saw championship game.
Evanston (13-2) scored the game’s first 12 points but trailed by 11 in the second half and by five with 28 seconds left before Eastern tied it with three free throws with seven seconds left.
“They had won their three previous games by 20 points or more,” Ellis said. “Everybody thought they would walk all over us. I think we impressed a lot of South Carolinians.”
Eastern scored 28 points in the title game and averaged 22 points and eight rebounds in the tournament. He was joined on the all-tournament team by fellow 6-foot-6 senior Elyjah Williams, who had 14 points and 15 boards in the final and averaged 9.5 and 8.25.
Evanston has defeated just one team in the Tribune Top 20, Conant, but its resume stacks up with just about anybody.
The Wildkits’ other loss came to Montverde (Fla.), a national powerhouse, and they had a pair of impressive victories in a national showcase Dec. 17-18 in Ohio.
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Ellis found it difficult to muster disappointment from the buzzer-beating loss on New Year’s Eve.
“The disappointing part could come out in a month — and may not if we can learn from it and not allow those things to happen,” Ellis said. “We will be better off in the long run if we play to the last whistle and cover all angles.
“We basically lost the game at the free-throw line. We shot 55 percent and missed 13 free throws. When you miss 13 and lose by 2 … hopefully we add some value now to our free-throw shooting.”
Simeon statement: Simeon was one of four undefeated teams heading into the talent-packed Pontiac Holiday Tournament. While the Wolverines did not run into any of the other three, they did manage to exact a measure of revenge and assert themselves as the favorite to win the Class 4A title.
The Wolverines beat Benet 52-50 in the final, leading throughout the rematch of Benet’s 49-48 stunner in the 4A semifinals last March.
Simeon (11-0) also cruised to a 58-39 semifinal victory over a good Bloom team and beat No. 13 Oak Park 65-47 in the second round after outscoring Plainfield North 46-4 in the second half of its 73-24 first-round victory.
Senior guard Evan Gilyard was given Pontiac’s prestigious A.C. Williamson award, while junior forward Talen Horton-Tucker continued to be a load on both ends of the floor.
The No. 2 Wolverines, who will supplant Curie atop the Tribune Top 20 this week, already have defeated both Proviso West tournament finalists — champion Young and runner-up Morgan Park — beat Bogan by 30 and own victories over elite teams from Washington, D.C., and Texas.
Familiar start: Fremd is playing like it’s 2013-14.
The Vikings entered the state playoffs a perfect 25-0 that season, and they’re almost halfway there after holding off Notre Dame 54-53 in a thrilling championship game at Wheeling’s Hardwood Classic.
Kyle Sliwa is giving Conant’s Jimmy Sotos, the presumptive favorite for player of the year honors in the Mid-Suburban League, a run for his money.
The tournament MVP scored a modest 10 points in the final, but he made the two biggest plays of the game, a tie-breaking free throw with 4.1 seconds left followed by a steal of the ensuing inbounds pass.
The Bucknell-bound Sotos was named MVP of York’s Jack Tosh Classic after York beat St. Patrick 49-35 in the title game.
Fremd beat Conant 48-37 on Dec. 9. They will meet again at Fremd on Jan. 20.
Good sign: If holiday tournament results are any indication — and they usually are — the East Suburban Catholic race should be a dogfight.
The league performed quite well during holiday week, with a championship and three runner-up finishes at major tournaments.
Led by tournament MVP Morgan Taylor, Marist (16-0) won the title at Centralia, rallying from a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Champaign Central 50-49 in the semifinals before jumping to a big lead and holding off Belleville West 59-47 in the title game.
The other big winner, as usual, was Benet (11-3).
Unfazed by Pontiac’s loaded bracket, the Redwings handed Bloomington its first loss, 59-57 in the second round, before beating Danville — the team that knocked off No. 1 Curie — in the semifinals and gave Simeon all it could handle in the championship game.
St. Patrick and Notre Dame were the other runners-up, at York and Wheeling.
Jolly-et Central: While No. 5 Joliet West suffered a second-round disappointment to Bloom at Pontiac, it was still a great week of basketball for the city of Joliet.
Sixth-seeded Joliet Central (12-1) surprised the large school bracket at the State Farm Classic in Bloomington by coming away with the title courtesy of a 50-42 victory over previously unbeaten Wheaton Warrenville South in the final.
Joliet West (13-1) did not get a crack at Simeon or Curie in the championship bracket at Pontiac, though West did beat Curie 69-57 in the fifth-place game.