By Michael Wojtychiw
Curie basketball has become more than just a team. It’s a brand.
A brand of basketball that each of the players and coaching staff have bought into as members of this year’s squad.
That buy-in has resulted in one of the most successful seasons in school history, one that has resulted in conference, city, regional, and now – after a 66-59 win over Simeon – sectional titles.
The Condors’ first sectional title since 2019 was also the third win over the Wolverines this season.
“This feels great, it’s my first time getting this far,” Curie’s Carlos Harris III said. “We have to keep pushing, it was a little bit of an ugly win, but a win is a win. Onto the next one.”
“This feels good, it’s a special group of guys that did it for us,” Curie’s Mike Oliver said. “We had to find out identity early, decided to go with the five seniors and they carried us all year.
“This is a special group. Some of they have been on the team four years.”
Another thing that helped prepare the squad for this run was its early state playoff loss last year to Lyons.
“We had the tough loss last year to Lyons in the regional and they said ‘We’re going to battle through this,'” Oliver said. “They stuck together, so it feels special.
“We knew we had to stick together. We won the city championship, but we weren’t satisfied with that. We wanted to make a strong run in the state. Going into the state playoffs, they said ‘It’s us against the state.'”
The teams started off evenly matched, tied 18-18 after the first quarter, but a 7-0 run to start the second quarter gave the Condors some breathing room, something they were able to extend to a 10-point advantage after two periods after Harris hit two free throws with 25 seconds remaining in the period.
Curie was able to maintain the 10-point cushion after three periods, but the youthful Wolverines weren’t done. Behind the play of sophomore Lorenzo Shields and Rashad McKinnie, who finished with 25 and 14 points, respectively, Simeon kept the game close, cutting the lead down to five on numerous occasions and as close as four after a Shields 3-pointer with 26.6 seconds remaining, but a free throw by Brad Johnson Jr. and a steal and bucket by Will Gonzalez at the buzzer sealed the game for the Condors.
“We had runs, they had runs, but we stuck with it, scored and played defense,” Harris said. “That’s a tough team, a young team. They’re going to be good next year and in two years.”
Harris led the way for Curie with 25 points, while Gonzalez finished with 16.
With the win, Curie advances to the UIC Supersectional Monday at 7:30 for a battle with Homewood-Flossmoor. The two teams are the top two ranked teams in the most recent Chicago Sun-Times weekly poll.
Both Oliver and Harris know what they must do to pick up the win.
“We just have to play ‘The Curie Way,'” Harris said. “Keep playing defense, play together and then get the W.”
“We have to play Curie basketball,” Oliver said. “Play the way we’ve been playing all year. Unselfish, got to rebound, defend like we did tonight.
“We’ve been battle-tested. We’ve beat some really good teams, so we’ve seen it all. We just have to play Curie basketball.”
Photos by Joseph Gelman/OSA
