Amundsen Defeats Lake View 57-52 in CPL Playoffs

[Preview of this week’s Inside-Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

The underdog Amundsen Vikings came back to defeat the Lake View 57-52 in the Chicago Public League playoffs and land a spot in the City Championship Sweet 16. The Lake View Wildcats (11-10, 4-3) were rolling late in the second quarter. It didn’t look good for the Vikings (9-12, 3-4) after they lost an early 10-1 lead to trail the Wildcats 31-23 at the half.

Lake View was putting together a nice season with 11 wins against 9 losses coming into this playoff game with wins over Northside rivals Payton, Taft and Von Steuben. The Vikings were struggling a little at 8-12 but were coming off a big victory at Lake Tech. Coming into this Public League playoff game on a neutral court at Whitney Young, the Vikings had lost to Lake View at home 72-63. 

The second half as fast and furious.

“We called five out and I just had [our guys] attack,” said Amundsen head coach Nicholas White about his second half strategy.

“We would get it off the net, run secondary break. We got a lot of points off that. That’s just running the floor hard and kicking it up. Finding opportunities to the basket.”

That’s coach speak for running a fast break offence and scoring in transition. The Vikings scored the first seven points in the second half erasing Lake View’s halftime lead in under three minutes.

The Vikings had the Wildcats playing their game. The second half was up and down, back and forth. Amundsen was lead by senior guard Darius McKinney who led all scorers with nineteen points. But it was Vikings’ senior forward and Ravenswood resident Jessie Hornbuckle that provided the fourth quarter spark to lift the Vikings.

“All I do is grab a lot of boards, grab a lot of rebounds. I try my hardest in the paint. I make sure that I give the fullest effort that I have,” Hornbuckle said. It was Hornbuckle’s eight fourth-quarter point that sparked the Amundsen victory.

“Jessie got a lot of offensive rebounds. Jessie got a lot of opportunities from the drive. He was getting easy opportunities,” White said about Hornbuckle.

With the Vikings ahead by two midway through the fourth quarter, Hornbuckle sank two free throws then quickly added four more inside points. Hornbuckle’s final bucket, actually the Vikings’ final bucket, came with 1:27 left to make the lead seven points. Amundsen held on in the final seconds for a 55-52 victory.

“They beat us in the conference but we beat them when it counted,” Hornbuckle said after the game. “I was thinking one game at a time. Now look at us. We are sweet 16.”

The Vikings have their work cut out for them in the City playoffs. They will face No. 3 ranked Curie on Thursday at Curie. Curie is clearly the top team in the Chicago Public League at 22-1 overall and 6-0 in the Public League’s Red-West. Curie’s only loss this season has come at the hands of No. 1 ranked Benet Academy at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament.

Amundsen senior forward Jessie Hornbuckle takes a shot against Lake View defender Tysean Davis.

Lane Topples Schurz 61-41

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY 

Lane is known as school of champions winning Public League titles in different sports, with one exception. basketball. Head basketball coach Nick LoGalbo believes he can build competitive program. 

Northside basketball teams haven't cut down the nets many times in Public League playoffs in decades. Roosevelt was the last Red North team to win CPL championship in 1952 while Foreman lost in 2010 Semifinals at UIC to Morgan Park. Only three basketball teams have advanced to the Public League final four since 1978. Taft, Von Steuben, and Foreman have come within 32 minutes of playing for the covered championship.

Only three North side teams Lane, Von Steuben, and Foreman have won a regional title in state basketball playoffs since 2003. Marshall has won the most boys basketball title with twelve. Simeon has eleven, including eight in this century. Recently retired Simeon coach Robert Smith who won six state championships as well.

Marshall’s queen of girls’ basketball Dorothy Gaters has won twenty-three city titles.

“It's hard to be successful in basketball for a long time at an academic school,” LoGalbo stated. 

There are some people who might dispute that statement, but Lane has more championship banners in baseball and football than basketball in its long storied history. Believe it or not Lane won Public League basketball banners six times before 1950. Neighborhood rival Schurz last won in 1919.

LoGalbo believes his school is at a disadvantage because it is a select enrollment institution. “We can’t recruit athletes like other schools because we are an academic school,” LoGalbo stated.

This season, Lane (7-7) is trying to compete in basketball starting four sophomores while playing a challenging schedule. Lane will face St. Ignatius (15-2) on Friday night. Lane has lost to some quality programs recently in early season play: DePaul Prep (14-2), Lincoln Park (11-3), Young (12-6), New Trier (12-3) and Brother Rice (11-4).

“We keep saying one day at a time and we are going to get better,” LoGalbo admitted. “We have a good sophomore class. We played a tough early schedule to get ready for city and state playoffs. It's a fun team to coach."

“This group has improved greatly since start of the season,” senior Matt Szafoni said. “They have only scratched the surface. The big thing about this group is their potential.”

The Champions had a good day at the office beating neighborhood rival on Addison Street, Schurz (10-4) 61-41. Szafoni led Lane with nineteen points while sophomores Cole Christian and Owen Zackaras each contributed combing for twenty-one.

Lane jumped out to a 21-9 advantage and the outcome was never in doubt.

Lane against Schurz was always a special and entertaining matchup especially in baseball and football. Neither school is in same conference anymore in football, basketball or baseball.

“It was the neighborhood rivalry,” LoGalbo admitted as a former Lane graduate.

Schurz faces a different challenge after starting 10-1 and upsetting East Aurora (8-6) in its holiday tournament before losing to defending Class 1A champions Chicago Hope Academy (8-5) in the tournament championship game. The Bulldogs who were off to their best start since 1988 and have lost three straight games. Schurz is currently 4-0 in the CPL White North Division and must now survive without leading scorer Michael Chaney who suffered a knee injury in loss at Tinley Park (2-8) on Monday night.

“It was very disappointing. We thought we could hang with them without Michael,” head coach James Shelton said after the loss. “No excuses. We missed free throws we missed layups. Lane did a great job with that motion offense.”

Kam Fagairo led Schurz with fourteen points. The Bulldogs trailed 45-13 at halftime and started the game by missing six free throws and five layups in the first half.

One thing that has never been in dispute about Lane. The school is one of the best academically in the state.

“It's a special place,” said Logalbo who is a former Lane student and basketball player. “I love working and coaching here.”

“We have a very rigorous academic schedule,” Szafoni said. “The school spirit is great and we get support from everybody.”

Taft Stuns Von Steuben 52-50

The Von Steuben Panthers (7-7, 4-1) hosted rival Taft Eagles (13-5, 4-1) at Northeastern Illinois University for an important game between leaders of the CPS White North Division.

Taft lead the game for only 3.2 seconds. But when those are the last 3.2 seconds, well that’s the important part.

The Eagles tied the game at 50 with 58 seconds to play. The Panthers brought the ball up and were content to run down the clock and take a last shot.

With thirteen seconds on the clock, Panther point guard Sr. Jerry Karr drove the right side of lane. Taft guard Alexei Vlahos tipped a pass. Taft’s Dexter Stigall grabbed the deflection and raced up court for a layup to give Taft its first lead of the game. He missed.

Trailing the play was Taft’s senior guard Matt Leach who in one motion, rebounded the ball and dropped it in the hoop giving Taft its first lead of the game with 3.2 to play.

Stunned, Von Steuben didn’t call time out. They inbounded the ball for a full court last shot. It missed. Taft had pulled off the unlikely comeback after not playing defense or shooting well throughout the preceding thirty minutes.

Taft 52, Von Steuben 50.

The White-North now sits in a four-way tie at the top between Taft, Schurz, Von Steuben and Mather.