Another ‘special day’ for Craig, Mount Carmel
Junior guard continues breakout season with 27 points against King
In eight grade, when DeAndre Craig attended an open house at Mount Carmel, boys basketball coach Phil Segroves couldn’t help but smile.
For more reasons than one. “He lives two blocks from me,” Segroves said. “I’ve been watching him over and over again when he played grammar school at Sutherland.
“That team was filled with superstars, and I knew he was the best one. To see him at that open house was a special day.”
The 6-foot-1 Craig is turning into a special player. The junior guard scored 27 points Tuesday night for the host Caravan in a 65-34 nonconference victory over King in Chicago.
After hovering around the 10-point mark on the varsity as a freshman and sophomore, Craig has erupted as a junior for Mount Carmel (4-0). He was the MVP of
the Bison Classic, scoring 79 points in three games.
But in the first quarter against King (0-3), Craig only had three points as his shots were not falling. He was still giving out assists, grabbing rebounds and picking up steals, however, as the Caravan took a 21-13 lead.
Shane Curtin came off the bench
for six points in that quarter, while Anthony Ciaravino also had six points and Eddy Lyons added four.
“I can always depend on my teammates if I’m not starting off hot,” Craig said.
“We know he’s ‘that’ guy,” Lyons said. “But we’re here for him when he’s struggling.”
The struggling didn’t last too long. In the second quarter, Craig scored 16 points during a seven-minute span and Mount Carmel stretched the lead to 42-20 at halftime.
Even as a freshman, Craig showed what the future could bring.
On Jan. 10, 2020, he scored six of the Caravan’s final eight points and had four free throws and a steal in the final 15 seconds for a stunning 66-60 victory on the road over Brother Rice.
The Caravan improved to 4-11 at that time, while Brother Rice fell to 11-6.
Segroves said Craig has offers from Akron and Radford but predicted Craig will receive more after this season and then following the summer AAU travel circuit.
King was a last-minute replacement on the schedule. Segroves said plans to play Bremen “fell through,” with King becoming the replacement.
Mount Carmel and DePaul are the only two teams in the eightteam Catholic Blue to open the season with 4-0 records. Mount Carmel begins league play Friday with a crossover game at home against St. Francis De Sales.
“We put in so much work in the spring, summer and fall, and we’re in a spot that we should be,” Lyons said about the undefeated start, which includes an overtime win against Morgan Park.
“But we have a lot of work to do.” “We’re coming into the league as underdogs,” Craig said. “We have to come out and show people that we’re here.”
Segroves said the Caravan played against King without 6-foot-5 forward Elijah Jointer, who was injured against Morgan Park. Segroves hopes Jointer will be back for the start of the Catholic League season.
Regardless, Segroves was happy to see Mount Carmel pick up Craig in the first quarter because teams will be zeroing in on him.
“We know every single night there is going to be a target on his back,” Segroves said. “If you don’t have a game plan against DeAndre, he’s going to score 35 points against you.
“I really like the fact that the Ciaravino brothers (Anthony and Angelo) and Eddy stepped up. It’s great. I was proud the other guys stepped up.”