Romeoville Live: Teddy’s Saturday Afternoon Notebook

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here's some of my top takeaways from the afternoon session in Romeoville.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lincoln Park Looks Scary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Lions came out roaring vs Mount Carmel to begin the afternoon with so many contributors. Up by as much as 20 in the opening half and were led by numerous pieces. [player_tooltip player_id='2436249' first='Ashton' last='Flowers'] flashed some brilliance as a floor general and had tons of assists in throughout the contest. [player_tooltip player_id='2831535' first='Larry' last='Harris'] is an underrated athlete and made highlight plays inside. They also saw production from [player_tooltip player_id='2734375' first='Jaylen' last='Dickerson'], [player_tooltip player_id='2105399' first='Ahmad' last='Lee'] and 2027 F Goodwin Foli: who still has room to grow and could be an intriguing player in that class. Both Dickerson and Lee intrigued me with their ability to finish tough plays inside. Lee also hit a few outside shots in this one to further extend the lead for Lincoln Park. The Lions blew out Mt. Carmel after beating East St. Louis earlier in the day.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2029 Daklyn Heard has a Phenominal Ceiling</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Of all the freshman I've watched so far, Mt. Carmel's Daklyn Heard probably is the most exciting. He's currently listed as a 6'4 Wing, and has tons of room to keep growing. His bounce is superb. Came out of nowhere to keep plays alive on the boards and nearly had a posterizing put-back in the 2nd half of the game vs Lincoln Park. He also showed to be super shifty and finished a ton of plays creatively while attacking the rim. It will be exciting to see how he develops. Could be one of the top, or the top, prospect in his class.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kankakee-Marist play spectacular game</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Kankakee-Marist matchup Saturday afternoon was the one I was most looking forward to this weekend. It proved to be an excellent contest from the jump. [player_tooltip player_id='2105360' first='Lincoln' last='Williams'] stood out right away with some great defense and a pair of dunks. But the most impactful players were arguably [player_tooltip player_id='1874852' first='Myair' last='Thompson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1552625' first='EJ' last='Hazelett']. Thompson flashed elite playmaking abilities throughout the contest, while Hazelett was a physical presence in the paint. On the other end, [player_tooltip player_id='1845365' first='Adoni' last='Vassilakis'], [player_tooltip player_id='1845350' first='Stephen' last='Brown'], [player_tooltip player_id='2323300' first='TJ' last='Tate'], and [player_tooltip player_id='1552436' first='Karson' last='Thomas'] all played their part. Vassilakis knocked down numerous 3-pointers in the opening half and closed that frame with an alley-oop assist to Brown. While Thomas and Tate did bits of everything. Charles Barnes, a De La Salle Transfer, showed he can hit buckets from all three levels. His play-style fits really well with Marist. The game was so close throughout. If this was a seven game series, it would surely go 6-7 games. Ultimately, it was Kankakee who pulled away late for a 52-45 win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Waukeagan rolls past Champaign Central</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Waukeagan looks like a program that could be another sleeper next season and bring back tons of experience. [player_tooltip player_id='1845356' first='Jaali' last='Love'] is the name of this group with the most upside. An athletic 6'7” forward with tons of length. But I was just as impressed with the play from Mike Galloway and [player_tooltip player_id='1552444' first='Carter' last='Newsome']. Galloway put on a scoring clinic and found so many ways to get to the rim. On the other hand, Newsome excelled as a ball-handler. Creating separation on numerous occasion and making the hard work look easy. Bulldogs win by 20.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Ignatius outlasts Evanston</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Evanston and Ignatius are two more programs who went at it Saturday afternoon that will be sleepers. 2028 PG [player_tooltip player_id='2531970' first='Ben' last='Ojala'] had a great opening half and was super effective scoring off the dribble. Ojala gave Evanston an early lead, but Ignatius wouldn't go away. The Wolfpack used a big second half run led by [player_tooltip player_id='2323283' first='Chris' last='Bolte'] and Amir Howard to gain control. Each knocking down a pair of deep threes. Bolte would knock down two more triples to keep them ahead late. Ignatius won the game 45-40.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->