The King mystique didn’t scare Englewood’s Jamaal Thomas on Thursday afternoon.
Thomas sank six three-pointers and finished with 27 points to lead Englewood to a come-from-behind 75-69 victory at King in the first round of the Public League playoffs.
“I’ll never be nervous over a [three-pointer],” Thomas said. “We’re the kings now.”
King jumped to a 20-point lead in the first quarter and led 61-50 with 4 minutes remaining. But Englewood (10-11) scored the next eight points and when Thomas hit a three-pointer with 1:00 left, the Eagles grabbed their first lead at 68-67.
“When we got them to 61-58, I knew we were back in the game,” Englewood coach Napoleon Montgomery said. “I’ve been telling our team all day that we can play with King. I know it’s not the King of old, but I think we put the final nail in their coffin.”
King (9-16) regained the lead with :49 left when Deangelo Slaughter hit two free throws, but 13 seconds later Englewood’s Gary Patterson responded with two free throws to give the Eagles the lead for good.
“Everybody always doubted us,” said Patterson, a four-year starter. “But I told my team if we played together, we could beat them.”
Patterson finished with 13 points, 15 rebounds and five assists, while Michael Dunlap added 17 points and six rebounds in the victory. King was led by David Easterling’s 25 points, Slaughter’s 14 points and Joseph Toney’s 17 points and eight rebounds.
“If you can’t make your free throws when the game is on the line, you don’t deserve to win,” said King coach Landon Cox, whose club was 13-of-23 from the free throw line in the second half and 16-of-31 for the game.
Cox, who led King to three state titles and more than 500 victories, wouldn’t discuss the possibility of this being his last game as the Jaguars’ head coach–King is in a transition phase of becoming a magnet school. “If we have to lose a game, it may as well be the first one,” he said. “The further you go, the more it hurts them [to lose].”
Public League playoffs
DuSable 63, Bogan 56: Richard Moody put in a game-high 20 points to lead the Panthers (11-15) to the first-round victory. Michael Walton’s 12 points paced Bogan (10-20).
Harper 91, Kenwood 74: Michael Clark and Quinton Coopwood scored 22 and 19 points, respectively, to spark Harper (6-20).
Hubbard 52, Lindblom 32: Rashaun Johnson scored 14 points and dished out nine assists to pace the Greyhounds (15-11).
Lane Tech 75, Amundsen 50: Nick Logalbo netted 17 points while Marcus Smith added 12 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Indians (17-13) into the second round.
Lincoln Park 89, Schurz 46: The Lions (7-14) cruised behind Andy Phalen’s 17 points and Michael Henderson’s 12. John Wilson scored 11 points to lead Schurz (12-18).
Mather 77, Roosevelt 55: The Rangers (17-11) rolled in the first-round behind Michael Shamon’s 24 points and Daniel Mendoza’s 18.
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Prosser 83, Clemente 44: Maurice Vaughn collected 25 points and 15 rebounds for Prosser (16-15).
Robeson 58, Kennedy 31: James Roberson tallied 20 points to go with Amir Major’s 14 points to lead the Raiders (16-11).
Class A regionals
Evergreen Park: Ryan Lambrecht scored 19 points and Ron Bell tallied 17 points and 18 rebounds as Evergreen Park (16-11) downed Luther South 64-50. Marc White’s 16 points led Luther South (8-20). . . . Bill Terborg scored 17 pointsas Chicago Christian (13-16) topped Morgan Park Academy 75-63. Eric Kelly scored 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Warriors (17-12).
Timothy Christian: Wheaton Academy’s Noah Ritchie nailed five three-pointers and scored 21 points as the Crusaders beat Lisle 51-47.
“Noah shoots from so far out that I’m not sure who’s going to defend it,” Wheaton coach Andy Euler said . “He’s shooting NBA threes sometimes and he can hit them.”
Joe Fortosis added 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Crusaders (21-7), who trailed 17-7 after the first quarter but scored the final seven points of the game to pull out the victory.
Lisle (24-3) received 14 points from Joe Cortez and 13 points on three three-pointers from Tom Bucholz.
Varna Midland: Dan Shields hit the game-winner with :02 remaining to give Newark a 61-60 victory over Ottawa Marquette. Jeff Eddy paced Newark with 23 points, while John Calkins had 28 points for Ottawa.