This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

CN100 Game of the Week preview: Boys 4A Marist Sectional - Young/Simeon/King/St. Rita

CHICAGO – With apologies to the rest of the postseason field, the state of Illinois is focused on Wednesday’s Class 4A Marist Sectional semifinal between four-time defending state champion Simeon and nationally-ranked Whitney Young.

CN100, The Comcast Network, will have coverage of the game, as well as Tuesday’s semifinal featuring King and St. Rita and Friday’s sectional title game. Visit cn100.tv for playback times and dates.

Simeon enters Wednesday’s game with a 22-4 record despite losing Duke star Jabari Parker and others to graduation after winning their fourth straight state title last year. The Wolverines are hoping to become the first time in Illinois history to win five straight titles.

Find out what's happening in Beverly-MtGreenwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The team that was knocked out of the postseason by Simeon the past three years, Whitney Young, has other ideas. Led by another future Duke star, Jahlil Okafor, the Dolphins are 23-5 and ready to dethrone Simeon.

“Our next opponent is no new test,” Young coach Tyrone Slaughter said. “As we said at the beginning of the season, Simeon has simply dominated Illinois high school basketball the last four years. Our goal is to not get caught up in the hype. We of course all understand the magnitude that is a Whitney Young vs. Simeon state playoff game, but we must continue to approach it as we would any other contest.”

Find out what's happening in Beverly-MtGreenwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The star power definitely lies with Young this time around. Okafor is among the nation’s top players, averaging 27.1 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Forward Paul White, who heads to Georgetown next year, has averaged 16.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, while St. Louis-commit Miles Reynolds is posting 17.3 points and 5.1 assists per game from the guard position.

“Recently we have been playing well, but not close to where we would like to be,” Slaughter said. “Our guard play improved significantly throughout the month of February and continuing into March.”

Young dispatched De La Salle 73-60 on Friday. Meanwhile, Simeon survived a scare from Stagg, 45-43.

The new leader for Simeon is D.J. Williams, who gets assistance from the likes of Ed Morrow, Isaiah Moss and Zack Norvell. The current Wolverines know what is at stake in this game. They have won 30 straight postseason games as a program.

“The hype and excitement is there, and that is wonderful for basketball and for the state, but from our perspective, we are playing to continue marching toward a state championship,” Slaughter said. “To us, Simeon is simply our next challenge, and we are excited about the opportunity to play for them.”

The other semifinal features some star power itself in the form of St. Rita junior star Charles Matthews. He recently chose Kentucky over Illinois as his future college home.

Matthews averages 16.3 points per game to go with 72 steals and 22 blocks, both team highs. The leading scorer for the Mustangs, who come in at 20-7, is Dominique Matthews at 17.5 points per game. Victor Law scored 20 in St. Rita’s 55-35 win over Mt. Carmel Friday and averages 10.7 points per game.

King, a 40-37 winner over DuSable, is back in the spotlight. The three-time state champions under legendary coach Sonny Cox in the 1980s and 1990s won just its third regional title since 1999 this year.

The sectional champion advances to the Chicago State Supersectional on Tuesday, March 18.

- Paul Johnson, CN100 Correspondent

Stay up to date on all of CN100’s games this season by visiting our website, or follow Game of the Week on Facebook and Twitter to see where our crew will be next. When the games are done, tune into to see the best in Chicagoland prep sports each week with CN100 Sports Weekly. You can also find video clips and highlights with Sports Weekly on YouTube.




We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?