Lenell Henry wasn’t really trying to catch wind of the opposing game plan.
It was spelled out in plain English from the North Lawndale bench and laid out right on top of him.
“His coach told him to go at me and see if he could get me in foul trouble,” Henry, Morgan Park’s center, said of his North Lawndale counterpart.
“He was talking. When I hit the ground he tried to sit on my leg and stuff like that. It didn’t work though. It fired me up.”
The 6-foot-8 senior responded with perhaps his best performance as a Mustang, and all five starters scored in double figures as No. 4 Morgan Park withstood No. 19 North Lawndale’s best shot early and rallied for a 73-62 victory in a Public League quarterfinal at Morgan Park.
Sophomore guard Lamond Johnson scored a game-high 18 points, Henry had 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, Romelo Burrell had 14 points and 12 rebounds and star point guard Ayo Dosunmu added an efficient 10 points and six assists to set up a date with No. 3 Curie in one of two marquee semifinal matchups Friday night at Chicago State.
No. 2 Young and No. 5 Simeon, the defending champion, will meet in the other.
“I told them before the game, ‘This is your game, I’m going to come to you, I’m going to get you the ball,'” Dosunmu said. “I’m always going to be aggressive, but I trust my bigs to kick it to them. They are going to be huge for us. They know how important they’re going to be. As a point guard, it’s not all about scoring.”
Dosunmu, a 6-3 junior and the next Morgan Park point guard destined for major college basketball, was putting up huge scoring totals early in the season, like Charlie Moore did last season en route to winning the Mr. Basketball of Illinois award.
But the Mustangs became overly reliant on Moore and were upset one victory shy of a fourth straight state berth, and they were in danger of falling into that trap again.
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Morgan Park (18-4) was as balanced as ever against North Lawndale (20-7), particularly during the 16-0 run that gave it a 62-48 lead with about five minutes to play.
“I had to check myself and go back to the drawing board and say five players win, not one or two,” Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin said. “It is a blessing they double Ayo and leave everyone else open.
“The strategy isn’t working anymore. We prepare for the run-and-jumps and everything everybody has been doing. We’ve been seeing it all year.”
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.
Player of the game: Lenell Henry, Morgan Park, 16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists.
Key performers: Morgan Park — Lamond Johnson, 18 points, 3 3-pointers; Romelo Burrell, 14 points, 12 rebounds; Ayo Dosunmu, 10 points, 6 assists. North Lawndale — Martrell Barnes, 12 points, 5 rebounds; Carlos Hines, 12 points.