North Chicago senior Ellis Usher isn’t afraid to take the ball to the basket with force.
Even if it means the 5-foot-6 guard ends up fighting for his shot against much larger players.
“No, that’s never been a problem for me, going to the basket strong,” Usher said. “Even when I was younger, I still liked using my quickness to find openings in the defense and take it to the hoop.”
Usher used that bravado to go up against Zion-Benton’s much taller players while scoring a game-high 19 points in the Warhawks’ 60-58 nonconference victory at home on Monday.
“It doesn’t matter how big the other team is, he feels he can score against anyone,” North Chicago coach Gerald “King” Coleman said. “It’s the same thing on defense. He doesn’t mind guarding someone 6-4 or 6-5. He will challenge them.”
Usher scored an assortment of ways for the Warhawks (2-2) on Monday, hitting two 3-pointers, making two other field goals and converting 9 of 10 free throws after drawing fouls on drives to the basket. He also caused havoc on defense as the Zee-Bees (0-4) committed 20 turnovers.
“We want to always play our style of basketball, which is to play defense all over the court,” Coleman said. “Ellis helps us do that with his quickness.”
Usher’s speed and ballhandling skills make him a college prospect, according to Coleman.
“He has to work on his perimeter shooting some, but he’s definitely talented,” Coleman said.
Usher used is talents to help North Chicago overcome an early double-digit deficit in the first half. He hit a 30-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the second quarter.
“It feels really good to beat Zion because I know so many of their players,” Usher said. “Both teams were talking a lot, but that happens when we play a team like Zion. They beat us last year, but we get bragging rights this season.”
The Warhawks have already matched their 2021-22 win total.
“This season feels different because we have everyone working together to make it better,” Usher said. “We took our lumps last season, but we want to turn things around this season.”
As one of just four seniors on the roster, Usher also wants to be one of the leaders.
“I want the young guys to look to me for leadership,” he said. “Even though we have a lot of juniors and sophomores, we have all been playing together for a long time, so we know each other’s game.”
The Warhawks also have more depth that could help them contend in the Northern Lake County Conference.
“We were missing a few players (on Monday) with injuries and illness, but we still had guys step up in key situations, like (Matthew) Brooks, (Xavier) Wright and (Chris) Chapman off the bench,” Coleman said.
Zion-Benton dominated the boards — led by Abron Brooks (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Jared Dawkins (8 points, 14 rebounds) — but missed three close-in shots in the final moments that could have sent the game into overtime.
“Rebounding is something we have to get better at if we want to be successful,” Coleman said. “We are not a big team, but we do have some kids who can jump. We need to do better at our rebounding positioning. We also have to want the ball better.”
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Darren Day is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.