Meteor catches fire at opportune time
Everything went Martez Cameron’s way Saturday at Chicago State in the Catholic League tournament championship.
His shot was pure and clean, and he scored easily in transition.
“The whole scenery was different than what we’re used to, the rims, the floor and the size of the court, and I saw I had to step it up,” the De La Salle junior guard said.
Cameron’s strong first-half play gave his teammates an opportunity to get more comfortable. With Cameron, Karl Harris and Paul Zabilevicius leading the charge, the No. 25 Meteors stunned No. 10 Mount Carmel 67-62.
Cameron matched his season high with 23 points and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. “I deserved it,” he said. “I worked very hard for this.”
For his accomplishments, Martez Cameron is the Sun-Times Athlete of the Week.
His big game capped an extraordinary week as the Meteors defeated three ranked teams — Mount Carmel, No. 13 Fenwick and No. 15 Loyola. Cameron scored 14 in the quarterfinal victory over the Ramblers and 12 in the semifinal victory over the Friars. De La Salle coach Tom White praised his decisive, aggressive play in the title game.
“Martez kept us in the game when we were falling apart and they were killing us on the boards,” White said.
Cameron picked the right time to play what he called “my three strongest games of the season.”
He averages 14.2 points, five assists and three steals for the suddenly smoldering Meteors (1310). He has found his niche on the South Side with De La Salle.
Cameron grew up in Westchester, but knew his hometown Catholic school, St. Joseph, was loaded at guard. “They already had a lot of the top guards from the 2015 class, [Jordan] Ash, Glynn Watson, and I thought if I went there, we’d just all be fighting for the ball. This is the best school for me.”
Early on, Cameron played the facilitator who was learning the point. ‘‘My freshman and sophomore years, we had [Michigan State recruit] Alvin Ellis, and he was a big scorer, so I really didn’t need to score that much,’’ he said. “Now I have to be one of our go-to scorers.”
Cameron has drawn recruiting interest from American University and has received inquiries from Iowa, Xavier and Butler.
He is most excited about De La Salle playing its best basketball with the Class 4A state tournament starting next week. The Meteors rate as a dangerous No. 7 seed in the loaded Marist Sectional that features top-ranked Curie and Public League and Catholic League powers Young, Simeon, St. Rita and Mount Carmel.
“Winning the Catholic tournament is going to show we never give up,” he said. “We played a lot of nationally ranked teams at the beginning, and we just keep [competing] and keep our composure. We know anything can happen.”