Stalling’s no fun; hoopsters want to play ball

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In 2001, Marian Catholic and Crete-Monee played keepaway, stalling for three quarters before Crete-Monee won 24-8. | File photo

Updated: January 23, 2012 12:27AM

Every year before the start of the SouthtownStar’s McLegends charity basketball game — this year scheduled for April 16 at Thornton High School — I try to pass along a few encouraging words to the High School Boys All-Stars.

“Hey, guys, go out there and have some fun! No coach is going to tell you to stall and kill the clock. Go out there and put on a show, and try your best to win the game. You’ll remember this day for the rest of your lives. Good luck!”

The subsequent smiles on the players’ faces speak a thousand words. They can’t wait to leave the locker room and make magic on the basketball court. They know it is time to run like gazelles, be creative and, most important, work together as a team.

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

No matter how you look at it, high school basketball is a “different” kind of sport.

If two coaches order their teams to “take the air out of the ball” and stall, they can do it.

You can’t stall in football or volleyball. If you stall in wrestling the referee penalizes you. You can’t stall in swimming, baseball, softball, bowling or cross country.

But on the basketball court, two teams can stand around and watch the clock count down to 0:00.

Case in point: Bolingbrook and Lincoln-Way Central.

These teams have played two games, or 64 minutes of intense basketball against each other this season.

Bolingbrook, which has a 6-14 record for coach Rob Brost, has scored a whopping total of 59 points in those 64 minutes, WINNING both contests, 14-8 and 45-19.

Lincoln-Way Central, whose coach, Bobby Curran, has led the Knights to an 11-12 mark, has scored 27 points in 64 minutes.

Yes, 27 points in 64 minutes.

On any basketball planet, there is no way kids are having fun scoring 27 points in 64 minutes.

I feel bad for the players on these two hard-working teams. First of all, they are doing exactly what their coaches are ordering them to do. The coaches want patience, patience, patience and more patience. And if it means “taking the air out of the ball,” so be it. Stalling for five-minute stretches isn’t fun, but orders are orders. Disobey and you’ll be sitting on the bench, which is less fun than stalling.

Some can say Curran has done an incredible coaching job this season. The Knights are just one game below the .500 mark, despite having single-game point totals of 8, 19, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31 and 31.

There are low-scoring boys basketball teams, then there is Lincoln-Way Central.

Remember, these Central yawners are nothing compared to the all-time classic played between Crete-Monee and host Marian Catholic in 2001.

On that forgettable night, Marian stalled for three quarters, the result being a 0-0 tie entering the final quarter. With the players and fans threatening to fall asleep, Marian coach Brian Tucker finally decided to let his team shoot the basketball. Crete-Monee outscored Marian 24-8 in the final period to win, prompting Marian athletic director Dave Mattio to exclaim, “If I knew my coach was going to tell his team to hold the ball for three quarters, we wouldn’t have charged admission to the game.”

All of that brings us 180 degrees to the Eisenhower basketball team in Blue Island, where players are smiling and having loads of fun.

Eisenhower has a mediocre 11-11 record for coach Mike Curta, but the Cardinals average 85 points, run like the wind from start to finish and now own the all-time state record for most 3-point baskets in a season.

Most important, the entire Eisenhower roster gets to play in nearly every game.

Eisenhower scored 100 points Friday night ... and lost by 18 points to Shepard, a team that lost 54-47 to the aforementioned Lincoln-Way Central on Jan. 18.

Hmmm, I wonder what the final score would be between patient Central and offense-crazy Eisenhower?

So what kind of basketball is more fun for the kids?

Let’s put it this way. If the Eisenhower kids were asked to play Central’s defensive system and the Central kids were asked to execute Eisenhower’s run-and-gun philosophy, which group of kids would be happier?

In both cases, it would sure be great if there was air in the basketball.