Bigger than big
Ogom wins duel with Halatek underneath as H-F slips past Lockport
Homewood-Flossmoor junior RJ Ogom had a simple explanation for why it is so difficult to drive against Lockport center ThomasHalatek.
“He’s tough,” Ogom said. “He’s real big and takes up a lot of space.”
Halatek, a 6-foot-8 senior, was the epitome of a wall for most of Friday’s game.
But in their final head-to-head battle, Ogom came up big when it mattered the most as H-F pulled out a 51-44 SouthWest Suburban Blue victory.
Issac Stanback had 16 points and 12 rebounds for H-F (11-4, 3-0). Ogom added 14 points, while Maurion Scott chipped in with 10 points and Oscar Parrish III contributed nine.
Jake Karli ledLockport (9-5, 1-1) with 10 points and six rebounds. Tom Ferriter added 10 points, while Halatek had nine rebounds and six points.
H-F was clinging to a 45-42 lead with 1:20 remaining when Ogom, a 6-5 forward, received the ball at the top of the key. Halatek was waiting underneath the basket.
Ogom had a decision to make. He decided to go for it.
“I wanted to go up and score,” Ogom said. “The refs were good all night, but they were missing a lot of calls underneath. I was ready to play through the contact. If I got the foul, I got the foul.”
Ogom didn’t get the basket, but he did draw the foul. It was Halatek’s fifth.
That was just as critical as Ogom hitting both free throws to put the Vikings up by five.
It was the second consecutive big possession for H-F.
The game was tied at 42-42 with just over two minutes remaining. Lockport had the ball
when a pass underneath saw Halatek — and the ball— on the floor.
Stanback was there to make the steal. He whipped the ball to Parrish, whomade a beeline for the basket.
There were two defenders waiting for Parrish, but neither of them was 6-8. Parrish crashed through, made the layup andwas fouled. He completed the 3-point play.
“I saw that (Halatek) wasn’t there, so I took advantage of it,” Parrish said. “I just took it to the basket andwent up strong.
“It felt really good to do that at the end of the game. That’s what we have to do — close out games. That was definitely my biggest play at the end of a game.”
Lockport led by as many as eight points in the first half andwent in front with 5:02 remaining in regulation on a 3-pointer by Ferriter. But H-F had its best stretch over the final five minutes.
“You can’t have mistakes against a team as talented and well-coached as Homewood-Flossmoor,” Lockport coach Brett Hespell said.“We’re just not good enough yet.
“They played a better game than us in longer stretches. And that’s what it comes down to sometimes, making winning plays.”