SHAMROCKS STAY IN ESCC RACE WITH HOME WIN OVER CARMEL
SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY
One of the goals for varsity basketball team at St Patrick is to win East Suburban Catholic Conference basketball championship in its final season. The Shamrocks (21-4, 5-1) moved a step closer with 70-43 win over Carmel (9-18, 2-6) last Friday night.
“Our name would be carved in gold but it would be a co-championship,” senior RJ McPartlin said after the latest victory. “It would be a tremendous thing.”
The ESCC will merge with the Catholic League next school year in basketball.
Top ranked Benet (26-1, 6-0) is going for fourth straight title, and Redwings stayed in sole possession of first place with a victory over Notre Dame. Marist (23-4,4-1) and St.Viator (18-8, 4-2) stayed alive for share of excellence in ESCC with wins as well.
“It would mean the world to me and our program to win the league in its final season,” St Patrick head coach Mike Bailey admitted. “I love the ESCC. The schools are all very similar. We have two road games left. We are treating next two games as championship week. We have to take care of business.”
There was very little drama on Friday against Carmel who has one of the state's best football players sophomore inebacker Jameer Myles on its roster. Shamrocks jumped out to a 13-2 lead before putting the Corsairs away in the third quarter by scoring 27 points. In fact the only issue for St Patrick was Shamrocks played critical conference clash without Joey Costanzo who was sick.
Maurice Neeley led Shamrocks with 19 points while Omar Ajanovic added 17 points.
Ethan Matz led Carmel with 10 points.
Neeley is very underrated player but plays important role for St Pat's. The senior guard is point man on its defense while starting the offense for Shamrocks.
“As important as the other players are on our team he is the glue for our team,” Bailey said. “He means so much to our basketball team. He does a little bit of everything for us.”
“He is tough as nails,” McPartlin stated. ‘He is not a selfish guy. He’s a good teammate.”
St Patrick closed the weekend with a 74-42 win over Jones College Prep from Chicago PublicLeague. The victory was a milestone for Bailey who won his 700th varsity basketball game. Bailey has now won 604 games with Shamrocks in 32 seasons.
“It's a nice accomplishment,” Bailey said. “For me it is always about having great assistant coaches and players. Very blessed to have great families and basketball players in our program at St Patrick. I have a very supportive administration at St Patrick. The most important thing for me is our students and basketball players.”
The state basketball playoff pairings will released this Friday. Shamrocks will be in Class 4A at Loyola sectional with defending Class 3A champion DePaul Prep, Evanston, and Loyola. St Pat's is seeking third straight trip to the Elite Eight after finishing third in Class 3A last season.