The Class 4A title game Saturday night featured a stark contrast in teams. Lincolnshire Stevenson had never been in a championship contest in their history. Chicago Simeon was going for their fourth straight title and seventh overall.
It took both teams a couple of minutes to get loose as play got underway. The young Stevenson squad showed remarkable poise and trailed just 14-12 after one quarter. Simeon's ability and experience was becoming evident, however, as the Wolverines opened a 31-24 halftime lead. The second half saw Jabari Parker and Simeon put on a performance befitting a team that would be taking home its fourth straight title trophy. They won convincingly, 58-40.
The Wolverines are obviously to be congratulated for their remarkable and historical achievement. They played at the highest level in all phases of the game throughout this tournament and put it all together when it counted.
In the 4A third place contest, both teams came out in attack mode as Edwardsville raced to a 21-18 lead over Proviso East after the opening eight minutes. The break neck pace continued in quarter two as the Tigers went into halftime still leading, 37-32. Highlight reels were filling up for both teams as the action continued in the second half. In a dandy of a ballgame, Armon Fletcher canned two free throws at the ten second mark to put Edwardsville up by one. Proviso's last gasp failed as Parrish McCullom's rebound basket came a split second after time expired. The Tigers thus held on to win third place, 57-56.
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