For the second year in a row, the Oak Lawn Community High School boys basketball team opened the season by winning the Spartan-Ram Classic. The only difference from last year is that the Spartans ran away with the title this time around, blowing out almost every opponent they faced including Crete-Monee in the championship game.
Senior Corey Lee, junior Donte Montgomery, 6-foot-5 senior Henry Martinez, senior Kyle Brennan, and sophomore Jack Dempsey settled in as the Spartans starting five. Lee and Montgomery slice through the lane for easy baskets and step back to splash three pointers. Martinez and Brennan offer scoring options in the paint, and Dempsey delivers long-distance love with deadly accurate three-point shooting.
What sets this team apart though is the tenacious defense and hustle for four quarters. The Spartans are relentless. A deep bench also provides complimentary basketball to keep everyone fresh. Ali Farhan, Sean Ryan, and Mustafa Abunajim maintain the same intensity all game long.
“Our team’s approach was disciplined, and our offense was humming in the finale of the Spartan-Ram Classic, defeating a very talented Crete-Monee squad,” head coach Jason Rhodes said. “Corey (tournament Most Valuable Player) and Donte (All-Tournament team) were excellent all tournament long, and Jack, Kyle, and Mustafa fed early on the spacing they provide and the manner in which our guards share the ball.”
They followed that strong tournament performance up with an easy win over Chicago Christian. But when the Spartans took down perennial South Suburban Conference Red powerhouse Hillcrest on the road, things started to look even brighter for the season to come.
“The win at Hillcrest was special for our program—I’m uncertain when was the last time we beat them, not since I’ve been here,” Rhodes said. “You look up at their conference championships, and the numbers don’t fit on the board anymore—they’ve been the standard bearer in our league for a long, long time. It was a gritty road win for a gritty group of guys. I couldn’t have been prouder of their effort.”
After continuing to roll with a victory over Bremen at home and advancing the win streak to seven games, it set the table for the highly-anticipated showdown with conference rival Evergreen Park on Dec. 8. The Spartans rose to the occasion once again and walked away with a brutal 68-66 victory to improve to 3-0 in the SSC Red.
Oak Lawn roared out to a double-digit lead by halftime. The defense was menacing, and Martinez was a monster in the paint. He played so tough around the rim that he ended up getting a bloody nose. But that did not stop him. He finished the game with 20 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks, and two assists. But it was two late free throws by Martinez that earned the Spartans the win. Montgomery had 18 points and Farhan scored 11. Lee also had a big night despite getting a bloody nose as well.
“As special as the Hillcrest win was, beating Evergreen Park was all the sweeter as they are probably our biggest conference rival recently, had upset us at their place last year, and have been heavily hyped leading up to the season,” Rhodes said. “Our team took all those things personally. Credit EP’s fight for playing an excellent second half to erase our 14-point halftime lead, but our kids overcame a lot to pull out that win.
“A turned Corey Lee ankle in our pre-game walk through, bloody noses from Lee and Martinez during the game, Lee fouling out with four minutes to play, and a Jack Dempsey turned ankle with three minutes to go…That’s a lot of adversity for one night, but I really believe this is a group built for those moments.”
The Spartans stayed hot the very next day and beat Bartlett, 57-51 to improve to 9-0 overall. Montgomery led the way with 17 points, and Lee scored 15. Ryan had great energy off the bench to hold over the pesky Bartlett team in the Storm Shootout.