There isn’t much that Lake Forest’s Tommie Aberle hasn’t seen or done on a basketball court.
He has been a mainstay in the Scouts’ rotation since his freshman year, growing from wide-eyed understudy to all-knowing senior.
“I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, about where I was then and how that’s changed,” Aberle said. “I remember as a freshman scoring 10 or 11 points and seeing teammates score 20 and thinking that I’ll never be able to do that. Everyone was so much bigger and stronger.”
Some young players in the program may see Aberle these days and think the same thing. The 6-foot-2 guard started the week averaging team highs of 14.4 points and 4.0 assists, as well as 5.0 rebounds, and then he scored 15 points during Lake Forest’s 54-51 North Suburban Conference win against first-place Warren on Wednesday.
Aberle ended 2023 with a stellar performance in York’s Jack Tosh Holiday Classic, where the Scouts (12-5, 4-1) earned the consolation championship. He scored a season-high 26 points in their win against St. Ignatius, and he almost recorded his second career triple-double in Lake Forest’s win against Wheaton North, finishing with 10 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and four steals.
“Getting things like assists and rebounds make you feel every aspect of your game,” Aberle said. “You feel unstoppable, and doing all of those things makes you confident in your defense. It gets you in a good flow and makes you feel like you’ll make the right play.”
Making the right play is the norm for Aberle at this point in his career, but it took time for him to get there. That evolution has made him a more well-rounded player.
“When I was younger, if there was a double team, I would still force it,” he said. “You get in your head that you have to shoot. You can be such a big contributor without scoring. Now I trust my teammates more.”
In turn, Aberle has the trust of people in the program. Notable in that camp is Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala, who has been there for every ebb and flow in Aberle’s development.
“He’s like a coach on the floor. He’s calling out the play before I am,” LaScala said. “Where he’s grown the most is his decision-making. When he was younger, in junior high, he could just shoot at will. But now he recognizes things quickly, like if he has a smaller guy on him who he can take to the basket.”
Aberle said he has also learned to put past performances in the proper context. That might mean building off wins or correcting what might have gone wrong in defeats. In Lake Forest’s first-round loss to Palatine at York, Aberle had seven turnovers in a less-than-inspiring team performance.
“I got home after that game and thought, ‘How can we make this better?'” he said. “I told myself, ‘You have to lead this team to the consolation championship.’ When I was younger, I wouldn’t have had that mindset.”
Aberle’s leadership extends beyond the court. For instance, he occasionally hosts team dinners at his house following practices, and he offers rides to younger teammates.
“That was the coolest thing when I was a freshman, when older guys would ask me to do things with them,” he said. “You want everyone to be friends off the court, not just basketball friends.”
The way younger varsity players speak about Aberle’s influence further underscores his stature. Sophomore guard Dominic Mordini particularly appreciates how Aberle sought him out after a tough loss to Niles North on Dec. 12.
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“He came over to my locker and told me I did a great job and that I have a lot of potential,” Mordini said. “That brought my spirit up and made me feel positive getting on the bus. He knows how to lighten the situation.”
When it’s game time, however, Aberle is all business, and he is focused on playing his best down the stretch.
“I’m trying to take in as much as possible and enjoy every game,” he said. “But I try to stress to the team that this is such an important month. It’s a grind, but you have to win these games in January.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.