Schools
OPRF Hoops Team Enjoys Special Night
Undefeated Huskies rout Downers Grove North 52-34, retire Iman Shumpert's No. 32.
On Iman Shumpert Night, the boys basketball team showed the guest of honor it can play some defense.
The Huskies held Downers Grove North scoreless in the first quarter en route to a 52-34 victory in a West Suburban Conference Silver Division opener Friday night in Oak Park.
OPRF retired Shumpert’s No. 32 jersey in a halftime ceremony. The former all-stater and Georgia Tech star was drafted by the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft. He wore his high school letterman’s jacket and watched the first half from the front row.
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“We tried to make it a special night for him as well as for the community,” OPRRF coach Matt Maloney said. “That was something that was weighing on our mind. We wanted to make sure that everything worked out well.”
The Huskies (4-0, 1-0) pressured Downers North (2-4, 0-1) into 0-for-6 shooting and seven turnovers in the first quarter. Their offense wasn’t as good as their defense, but Gabe Levin canned a three-pointer in the final minute of the first quarter and Jakari Cammon canned a three-pointer to open the second quarter to give the home team an 11-0 lead.
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With less than a minute left in the first half, Levin connected on another three-pointer and Alex Gustafson made two free throws to push OPRF’s cushion to 24-9 at intermission.
Downers North made only 2 of 16 field-goal attempts and committed 15 turnovers in the first half. The Trojans wound up shooting 24 percent (11 for 46) and finished with 22 turnovers for the game.
“The defense was great,” OPRF’s Ka’Darryl Bell said.
The Huskes stymied Downers North’s offense with a variety of schemes, but primarily with a trapping zone.
“We try to narrow the court down, keep the ball on one side and make them throw bad passes,” Levin said.
Maloney liked the effort on the defensive end.
“That was something that we were very, very happy with,” he said. “Our energy in our press, in the zone we ran and in man. It was a mixture and the energy stayed high.”
In the third quarter, the Huskies used a 9-0 run – with Bradley-bound Bell scoring 5 of those points – to move ahead 36-13.
Levin finished with a team-high 13 points. Bell tallied 12. Cammon added 9.
The undefeated Huskies are ranked No. 18 by the Chicago Sun-Times. It’s been a nice, early turnaround from last year’s 10-13 season.
Maloney has liked what he’s seen so far.
“Everyone believes in what we’re doing,” he said. “There’s just a nice chemistry.”
