Late in the second quarter of Fenwick’s 46-37 win over Loyola on Tuesday night in Wilmette, a member of the Ramblers student section shouted a jocular insult at Friars freshman D.J. Steward.
Steward clearly heard it, but he just smiled. Then, almost immediately, the 6-foot-1 guard stole the ball in the Loyola backcourt and drew a foul on the Ramblers. If the Loyola students thought they were going to rattle Steward at that point, they had not been paying attention to what already had transpired.
Thrust into starting point guard duties in place of senior Jacob Keller (two points), who was returning from an injury, in a Chicago Catholic League North showdown on the road, Steward looked anything but a 15-year-old.
He opened the game with a pair of 3-pointers and scored 10 of his game-high 17 points in the first quarter on 4-of-4 shooting, helping the Friars (17-4, 8-0) build a 15-7 lead after one quarter.
“(Teammates) distributed me the ball well, that was the key to me coming out well in the beginning,” said Steward, who lives in Oak Park. “I felt comfortable as soon as I got out there. In warmups, I was hitting my shots.”
Steward, alternating between point guard and shooting guard, added seven rebounds and three steals.
He also made timely contributions. After Loyola had cut Fenwick’s lead to four late in the third quarter, Steward had a steal, and Fenwick pushed the lead back to seven on the ensuing possession.
Throughout the game, Steward made sound decisions with the ball and limited his turnovers as Fenwick clinched at least a tie of the CCL North, a league they can win outright with a victory at home over DePaul Prep on Friday.
“(Steward) is very poised for a young man, that’s probably his biggest gift,” Fenwick coach Rick Malnati said.
Not that this comes as a surprise to Malnati, who said he has been aware of Steward since the latter was in fifth grade.
“He’s a freshman going through the wars of the Catholic League, having to go on the road and play games,” Malnati said. “He’s had to play point guard when Jacob was out, so he’s had the ball in his hands. We’re asking him to do a lot, but he’s doing great. He’s a big-time kid.”
Steward said his comfort with the ball stems from playing AAU with Oak Park-based Wolfpack, where he was a teammate of several current Friars.
“I had a coach there who put the ball in my hands, and that made me more comfortable (playing point guard),” Steward said. “He made me the leader of the team and just distributing to my players.”
Fenwick senior forward Jamal Nixon said Steward does not play like a freshman.
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“You wouldn’t even know that he’s 15, just the way he plays and scores it. He’s long on defense, and he doesn’t turn it over,” said Nixon, who lives in Plainfield. “He’s really poised and a great player the way he handles (the ball).”
Nixon scored 13 points and junior Billy Bruce added six points and six rebounds for Fenwick, which led 30-17 at halftime. Keller ran the point down the stretch and scored an important fourth-quarter bucket for the Friars, whose subpar free throw shooting (5-for-15) prevented them from pulling away.
Loyola (15-6, 6-2) saw its 10-game winning streak come to an end. Senior guard Ramar Evans led the Ramblers with 13 points.
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press