As he exited the locker room and headed toward the team bus, Evanston senior swingman Chris Hamil was still coming to terms with his team’s season-ending 67-59 loss to Young in Tuesday night’s Class 4A Chicago State Supersectional.
“It feels like a dream that was just shattered. It hurts,” said Hamil, who lives in Evanston. “But I’m very proud of what we did this year, how we came together as brothers. We have great memories from this season.”
The Wildkits’ journey, which over the last four months took them to South Carolina and Ohio, ended three wins short of the team’s ultimate goal — a state title in Peoria.
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However, Tuesday night included several highlights, both on and off the court, in a season full of them.
* Senior Nojel Eastern had perhaps the signature stretch of his illustrious career late in the second quarter as he scored 11 points in the final 2:55 to bring the Wildkits from down eight to up three. Evanston (28-4) had seemingly been outplayed in the first half, but led 33-30 at intermission.
During that span, a determined Eastern displayed nifty dribbling and powerful drives as he scored again and again in transition. Evanston students chanted “You can’t stop him,” and at that moment they were right.
The Purdue signee finished with a game-high 31 points and five steals.
* Sophomore Jaheim Holden’s running 3-point hook shot, which came off an inbounds play, beat the buzzer at the end of the first quarter.
* Evanston Township High School sold 1,104 ticket to the game, and as a result, the Wildkits’ cheering section was significantly larger and nosier than Young’s. The Evanston fans turned Jones Convocation Center into Beardsley Gym South.
“The town was great. We’ve really felt that support the past few weeks and we feel bad that we can’t take (the fans) on one more journey,” Evanston coach Mike Ellis said.
Ellis said he felt Young played a little tougher than his team and was faster to 50/50 balls. The Dolphins outscored the Wildkits 20-11 in the third quarter and managed to maintain a slight edge throughout the fourth, knocking down several late free throws to preserve the victory.
Young also tightened the defense on Eastern in the second half, denying him the ball in the post and limiting him to just three points in the game’s final 11 minutes.
Eastern, who has struggled from the free-throw line in recent games, shot his free throws with his less-dominant right hand, making 5-of-10 at the line.
A major factor in the game was the extended absence of Evanston sophomore starting guard Lance Jones, who played just eight first-half minutes and sat out the second half with a bruised tailbone, which he suffered in the fourth quarter of Friday’s sectional final against Waukegan.
Jones would have drawn the defensive assignment on Young junior point guard Xavier Castaneda, who finished with 20 points, five assists and five steals.
“I feel like without Lance, we didn’t have our whole team,” said Holden, an Evanston resident who finished with 10 points. “With Lance, our chemistry is better than it was today. He brings a certain type of emotion to the game, on defense and offense, he has a spark. Without him, we had to step it up and we just couldn’t get it done.”
In addition to neutralizing Eastern down the stretch, Young (25-7) kept Evanston’s other key players in check. Senior Elyjah Williams finished with eight points and 10 rebounds, Hamil had eight points and senior Malcolm Townsel finished with two points after battling foul trouble for much of the evening.
Even without Jones, and with several players having off nights offensively, the Wildkits continued to battle, staying within striking distance throughout the fourth quarter. Evanston trailed by just three, 62-59, after a Holden 3-pointer with 23.8 seconds remaining. But the Wildkits could not get any closer.
“Everybody fought, every last person on the team. We fought as a unit,” said Eastern, who lives in Evanston. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to do it with.”
Ellis said the season included numerous achievements.
“It was a season full of accomplishments: the schedule we put together, not missing one class period, balancing school and sports,” Ellis said. “We’re confident that the people on our team are going to be productive people in society, and that people will look up to them and say, ‘Yeah, they played on Evanston’s 2016-17 basketball team.'”
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press
This story has been modified to reflect the following corrections:
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Jaheim Holden scored 10 points, not 11, and Malcolm Townsel scored two points, not five.