Hill leads Vikings past Morgan Park

By Clyde Travis
YourSeason.com

With only one starter returning from last years team, Morgan Park was no match for senior-laden Homewood Flossmoor, which beat the Mustangs 57-47 in the Chicago Public Schools Shootout Saturday at the UIC Pavilion. No. 17 H-F (4-1) was up just 21-20 at halftime, but opened a 39-33 lead after three quarters.The Vikings got the first double-digit lead of the game 45-35 on a basket by Delvon Rencher with 4:36 remaining in the fourth quarter.Morgan Park (1-1) pulled within 49-43 on back-to-back baskets by Billy Garrett Jr., but they could not get any closer.We played a very unselfish team game, H-F coach Jim McLaughlin said. They suffered a heartbreaking loss against Bloom and that really got their attention.Maurius Hill led the Vikings with 16 points and seven rebounds. Tyrone Sherman had 15 points and six assists, while Rencher added 14 points and six rebounds.McLaughlin singled out Sherman for his excellent play: He has been a four-year varsity player and this may be one of his best games. He ran the offense and played some great defense on Garrett.Garrett, who was the focal point of the Viking defense, led all scorers with 18 points. Xzavier Taylor scored eight points and had a game-high 13 rebounds for Morgan Park.Mustangs coach Nick Irvin said his team did not match Homewood-Flossmoors intensity. We did not run our offense and execute the way we know we can, he said. Take nothing away from H-F, I was very disappointed with the way we played. We have to learn to be more aggressive, but we are a young team and we will get better as time goes on.