By Dominic Scianna
Justin Oliver knew his team could strike at any moment to rally his Curie High School squad to victory over highly-ranked Warren Township on Saturday. The game marked an early-season basketball showcase matchup in the Chicago Elite Classic at UIC’s Credit Union1 Arena.
He wasn’t worried about his team’s offense, but the senior guard knew he and his Condor teammates had to dig in on defense to turn the tide against a strong Blue Devils squad coached by Zach Ryan, coming into the game as the second-ranked team in the Chicago Sun-Times Super 25.
Curie trailed for most of the game, as Warren (2-1) turned a 27-24 halftime lead into a 49-38 deficit entering the fourth quarter.
That’s when the script flipped, as the Condors battled back from 14 points down with just over five minutes to play to mount a furious comeback.
Michael Oliver Jr. (11 points), Justin Oliver (game-high 24 points), Saquan Commings (17 points), and Joshua Hurley keyed a masterful 19-4 run to take the lead at 57-56 with 1:47 to play.
“It was all about our defense and getting easy fast break points,“ Justin Oliver admitted. “We were getting steals and converting on their turnovers. That’s what started our comeback. We’re better defensively this year.”
The lead would see-saw back and forth in the final two minutes, but the Condors (#9 in the Sun-Times Super 25) would put the game away from the free-throw line to secure the huge win over Warren.
“Like they preach, defense wins championships,” Michael Oliver, Jr. acknowledged. “Our offense is always going to be there, but once we locked in defensively we were able to win the game.”
Warren junior point guard Jaxson Davis, touted as one of the top players in Illinois, was held to 15 points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field by the Curie defense. Joel Paasch led the Blue Devils with 16 points and Braylon Walker chipped in with 12 points.
“When Jaxson fouled out in the fourth quarter it was tough to rebound from that,” Paasch said. “I love to compete against really good teams (like Curie) this early in the season. This helps us later in the year when we’re going to face tougher competition in the playoffs. This experience, even in a loss, will help us to move forward.”
Veteran Curie coach Mike Oliver loved his team’s grit down the stretch. He’s seen it all in a successful career patrolling the Condors’ sidelines that makes him appreciate the effort and intensity of this year’s squad.
“Crazy game, that’s for sure. We made some big free throws down the stretch,” noted Coach Oliver. “The guys just fought hard and kept grinding. We got a big steal from Justin (late in the game defending Davis), and we went up by two after that. I’m just so proud of these guys because they never quit. We have eight seniors out there and they just kept fighting (to get the win).”
Curie returns to action on Tuesday at home versus Chicago Public League rival Westinghouse. Tip off is set for 4:30pm.
The CEC continued for its second day at UIC, featuring a number of our CPL teams.
Day 2 results
King 43, Julian 40: Amir Brown, Corey Wellere Jr. and Cornelius Moore all scored nine points for King, while Malachi Calahan scored a game-high 14 points and Torrey Barrett put up 13 points and 8 rebounds for Julian.
Chaminade (Mo.) 57, Simeon 55: Kamari Hamlin led the Wolverines with 17 points, while Kaiden Williams had 11 in the loss.
St. Ignatius 61, Young 60: Marquis Clark led the Dolphins with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, while Caden Crudup added 11 points and 6 rebounds.
Photos by Brandon Parker/OSA
King vs. Julian
Curie vs. Warren
