After finishing as runners-up in the Tampa Hoops Classic in Florida last week, the North Lawndale College Prep Phoenix returned home with one goal in mind–win the 2009 Chicago Public Schools Holiday Classic title and end the week on a positive note.
After finishing as runners-up in the Tampa Hoops Classic in Florida last week, the North Lawndale College Prep Phoenix returned home with one goal in mind–win the 2009 Chicago Public Schools Holiday Classic title and end the week on a positive note.
Junior forward Jermaine Winfield would not let North Lawndale lose after delivering one of his best games of the season. The 6-foot-4 Winfield tallied a tournament best 24 points, 16 rebounds and 2 blocks to garner Most Valuable Player honors in a 57-52 victory over Foreman in the title game.
“Yeah, this is my best game of the season,” Winfield said, clutching the MVP trophy. “I was just feeling it.
Although Winfield had a superb performance, he was benched for showing up late for a game earlier that day.
“I overslept this morning and was only a few minutes late (for the afternoon semifinal),” Winfield said. “I felt like I had to redeem myself to my teammates. I played real hard because I wanted to help bring them a championship.”
After being down by as many as seven points in the first half, the Phoenix would answer with several runs of 3-0, 4-0, and most importantly a 17-7 run to put the game away in the fourth quarter.
“I was very impressed with the play of Jermaine,” said North Lawndale coach Lewis Thorpe. “He plays hard, he plays in long stretches and I didn’t start him, so I didn’t know where his head was going to be. But he did the job for us.”
In addition to North Lawndale’s victory over Foreman, several other games were played earlier that day:
Third place game-Farragut 61, Marshall 53 Sophomore Demetrius Tolliver led Farragut with 16 points and sophomore Jonathan Collins contributed 15. For Marshall (9-4), 6-5 Vincent Garrett finished with 17 points and Darius Smith scored 13.
Semifinal-Foreman 70, Marshall 67: Down by 18 points in the third quarter, Foreman fought back to stun Marshall in the semifinals 70-67.
Semifinal-North Lawndale 70, Farragut 62: Led by Tyshawn Ferguson’s 16 points, Farragut (6-7) matched Lawndale score for score until the Phoenix went on a 9-2 run in building a 62-54 lead with 50.7 seconds left.
Crane 68, Payton 62: The Cougars (11-4) claimed the consolation championship behind 18 points from Jerrell Taylor and 14 from Crandall Head. Chris Eversley had a game-high 27 points for Payton (5-9).
In photo: Maurice Williams of North Lawndale (in red) battles Lavonte Dority (in white) of Foreman for a loose ball during the Public League Classic at DePaul University.
Copyright 2009 Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
