Zion-Benton’s Damontae Taylor grabbed the attention of the Twittersphere in 2020 when he leaped over a Lake Zurich player on a dunk.
ESPN’s tweet of the play generated more than 22,000 likes. One person tweeted, “Vince Carter flashback.” Another posted, “How can you fly clear over someone?”
But what people might not know: Taylor is more defensive-minded than anything. That dunk was set up at the other end of the court when he blocked a shot.
“I’ve been playing basketball forever, and I don’t know why, but I’ve always had pride in my defense,” he said.
After playing just 12 minutes for Green Bay in his first college season, the 6-foot-7 forward has become a defensive force again for South Suburban College in South Holland.
Taylor leads NJCAA Division II in steals with 114 and ranks 11th in blocks with 52 as the No. 1 Bulldogs (29-0) enter the national tournament in Danville as the top seed.
South Suburban, which will open the tournament against Florida Gateway (17-9) at 1 p.m. Tuesday, ranks No. 1 in steals, blocks and rebounding margin per game.
Taylor sets the table and credits coach John Pigatti’s system.
“We switch up on everything,” Taylor said. “I’m 6-7, and I might be guarding a 6-foot guy. There are a lot of different matchups out there, and we see that, and we take advantage of that. The way the game plan is set up, it’s working for us.”
Pigatti is impressed with Taylor’s defensive savvy.
“Damontae is so long-armed and very athletic, which really helps him defensively,” Pigatti said. “He also has really good defensive instincts, which helps him anticipate steals.”
The adage is that defense wins championships, and the Bulldogs head into the national tournament with one of the strongest defenses in program history.
“I have had other teams just as good as this team defensively, but the attention to the detailed scouting reports set this team apart from the others,” Pigatti said.
Of course, Taylor can score too. Thornton graduate Damarco Minor averages a team-high 20.8 points. West Aurora graduate Camron Donatlan is second at 19.0, and Taylor is third at 17.3.
“We have three guys who can go off and go crazy at any time,” Taylor said. “If one doesn’t go crazy, the other two will pick him up for sure. And the rest of the team is always coming to play.”
Taylor said a couple of preseason losses motivated the Bulldogs, who went undefeated in the regular season for the first time.
“The way our coach was after those losses, we didn’t want to go through that again, so every game means something to us,” Taylor said. “He’s never going to let us forget the losses that we had. During the season, he would challenge us to go undefeated, and we accomplished our goal so far.”
South Suburban has won 27 of its 29 games by double digits. Its closest call was its most recent game, a 74-73 victory against Waubonsee in the Region 4 Tournament championship game on March 5.
“That game was scary,” Taylor said. “That was our first game that was that close all season. But I feel like we did what we had to do to pull the game out.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.