Joliet Catholic run ends vs. Morgan Park

PARK FOREST – Joliet Catholic boys basketball coach Joe Gura needed one word to describe what happened Friday night.

“Wow!” Gura said after his Hilltoppers had taken their best shot but were steamrolled by mighty Morgan Park 97-60 in the championship game of the Class 3A Rich East Sectional.

“I ran out of ideas on how to stop them,” said Gura, who nonetheless beamed with pride over what his team had accomplished and how it conducted business in its final game. “They shoot the three, take it to the basket, rebound and hit the medium-range jumpers.

“They have a lot of size. We were outmanned. But we had a great run.”

Morgan Park (20-6), the defending 3A state champion and No. 5 in the Associated Press 3A poll, advances to the Joliet Central Supersectional on Tuesday, while the Hilltoppers (12-21) finish knowing they will be better down the road for the experience.

“It was fun to play against this kind of competition,” Joliet Catholic sophomore guard Harold Davis said. “I would say they’re a taller Marian [Catholic]. This will give us more confidence moving on.”

The first points of the game came on 6-foot-7 Josh Cunningham’s alley-oop dunk off a pass from Mustangs point guard Charlie Moore. That was an omen.

Cunningham finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

The other half of Morgan Park’s starting forward tandem, 6-5 Lamont Walker, chipped in 15 points. They start on a front line that includes 6-11 Lamous Brown.

Moore scored 14 points and 6-4 guard Torry Johnson, who rounded out the starting lineup, had 11.

As good as that group is, an even bigger issue for JCA came when the Morgan Park reserves entered. They may be second string, but they are tall, athletic and can shoot it.

“Their second team is better than a lot of teams,” Hilltoppers sophomore guard Jalen Jackson said.

Gura said he gave Jackson and Davis the license to take matters into their own hands on the offensive end. Better options were not available.

“I told those two they had a license to shoot it and drive,” Gura said. “I think sometimes they were driving on expired licenses, but they were the two best options we had.”

Jackson, who played the final three games of the tournament run with an injured ankle that Gura said was “maybe 75 or 80 percent,” scored 20 points but hit only 6-of-19 shots. However, he was 4-of-8 from three-point range.

“I’m keeping that license coach talked about in my pocket,” Jackson said with a smile.

Davis, master of the tear-drop shot off drives into the lane, scored 15 points, including 7-of-8 free throws.

“It was hard to get the shot up there when you’ve got a 6-11 kid and a 6-7 kid right there,” Davis said. “You have to put it up quick.”

“When I went to the basket, I had tunnel vision,” Jackson said of a few his layups being rejected – emphatically.

Drake Fellows contributed nine points and seven rebounds and Colton Kolowski had eight points and five boards for JCA.

The Hilltoppers were 6-of-28 shooting in a first half that ended with Morgan Park on top 52-22. They were much better in the second half, hitting 12-of-26.

“I’m so proud of my kids and how we battled them,” said Gura, whose team won four postseason games. “There’s always a chance against a team like this that you will make quick mistakes. But for the most part we battled them.

“We had five sophomores who played in this game. The kids did a heck of a job going this far in the state tournament. My hat’s off to them.”