Boys Basketball: Morgan Park lights up vs. Fenger
By Tim O’Brien For Sun-Times Media March 6, 2013 10:42PM
Markee Williams, of Morgan Park, goes up for the basket against Fenger. | Gary Middendorf~For Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Updated: April 8, 2013 7:41AM
Looking around the locker room, Morgan Park star Billy Garrett Jr. sees scorers.
Lots of scorers.
“We’ve got four or five guys who can score 30 points any game,” Garrett Jr. said. “We all know that we’ve got guys who can score. The thing we really work at is defense and getting stops. The offense will take care of itself.”
Pressing in the backcourt or gearing up in its half court defense, Morgan Park’s defense led to offense in a big way Wednesday night, the Mustangs rolling to a 112-49 win in a Class 3A St. Laurence Sectional semifinal.
DePaul-bound Garrett Jr. poured in 30 points, including a 7-of-8 performance from three-point range, and added nine assists to lead Morgan Park (29-3) as 11 different players scored for the Mustangs. Josh Cunningham (17 points), Charlie Moore (16), Kain Harris (12) and Kyle Davis (11) also contributed.
Morgan Park will play Thursday’s Harlan vs. Perspectives Leadership winner Friday night for the sectional title.
“You can’t win state without winning sectional first,” Garrett Jr. said with a smile. “That’s on our to-do list, and I haven’t been able to do it since I’ve been here. Hopefully we can win that first sectional, then supersectional, Final Four and then win state.”
Wednesday’s semifinal never was in doubt. Cunningham scored nine of Morgan Park’s first 11 points on the way to an 11-3 lead just two minutes into the game. The Mustangs opened up a 32-8 advantage through one quarter and a 68-18 halftime lead.
“We try to play our game, and our practices can be harder than the games sometimes,” Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin said. “I want them to play no matter the jersey, Simeon, Whitney Young, just play.”
Fenger (17-9) committed 11 first-quarter turnovers and shot 7-of-37 from the field in the first half. Victor Watson led the Titans with 11 points while Lee McCullum and Keiquan Mitchell scored eight apiece in the loss.
