Wrapping up the holidays

Schaumburg’s Cully Payne drives against Plainfield North’s Kendall Frank.
(Scott Powers/For the Sun-Times News Group

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The brackets are all filled in now, and it's a good thing there aren't any high school holiday tournament office pools -- because there were more Cinderella stories over the last week than in a decade of NCAA tournaments.

The amazing success of Morton, Rich South, Plainfield North, Schaumburg, Hope, Rich East, Proviso West and Conant finally has given a theme to this season.

It's all about the team.

In the Morton-Young semifinal at Proviso West, Morton guard Joe Belcaster had 10 assists, Young eight. Morton won by 20 points.

Earlier this season, Glenbrook North coach Dave Weber mentioned that he wasn't surprised his team was able to win without its two stars, Tyler Ponticelli and Alex Dragicevich.

''Honestly, the other guys are used to playing without them; they do it a lot during summer when Tyler and Alex are playing AAU ball,'' Weber said.

The past week was a wake-up call for every star player who dreams of winning a state championship: Basketball is a team game.

During those weekends the stars are off playing club basketball in Las Vegas and Orlando, a bunch of unknown guys in Plainfield and Morton are playing together at the YMCA and working out the chemistry needed to win holiday tournament titles in December -- and quite possibly some hardware in Peoria.

MVP: Schaumburg's Cully Payne. The Saxons didn't win the Pontiac tournament, but there wasn't a better player in the state than Payne. Scoring, passing -- whatever the Saxons needed, he provided. He's now neck-and-neck with Waukegan's Jereme Richmond for player of the year honors. Thornton's Reggie Smith finished a close second.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Payne; Brandon Paul, Warren; Luke Scarlata, Morton; Smith; Drew Crawford, Naperville Central.

SECOND TEAM: Robert Covington, Proviso West; Belcaster; Richmond; Stephen O'Neal, Rich East; Markus Yarbrough, Zion-Benton.

FABULOUS FRESHMEN: Juwan Starks, West Aurora; Akeem Springs, Waukegan; Joshua Irving, Evanston; Connor Boehm, New Trier.

SUPER SOPHS: Wayne Blackshear, Curie; Macari Brooks, Rich South; Andre Henley, De La Salle; George Marshall, Brooks; Julian Lewis, Homewood-Flossmoor; Tywon Pinkney, Simeon; Kortney Darby, St. Patrick; Jack Ryan, Glenbrook South.

SURPRISE STANDOUTS: Michael Black, Fenwick; Patrick Jackson, Hope; Gerald Dorsey, Tinley Park; Darrin Johnson, Leo; Matt Sullivan, Loyola; William Brown, East Aurora; Derek Raridon, Neuqua Valley; Dontae Moore, Proviso West.

BEST REBOUNDERS: Covington; Trevell Rivers, Thornton; Scarlata; O'Neal; Aaron Moise, Morgan Park.

BEST SHOOTERS: Sean Stanley, New Trier; Mike McCall, Foreman; Payne; Steve Bova, Tinley Park; Ryan Crow, Plainfield North.

BEST POINT GUARDS: Belcaster; Tim Traversa, St. Patrick; Reggie Lemon, Plainfield North; Ja'Mere Dismukes, Rich East; Rahjan Muhammad, Neuqua Valley.

BEST UNSIGNED SENIORS: James Pointer, Leo; O'Neal; Scarlata; Covington; Tremel Owens, Proviso West; Jeremy Jones, Simeon.

PLAYER PROVING THE MOST: Covington. Many had no idea that Proviso West's center was a double-double machine.

TEAMS PROVING THE MOST: Morton proved everything. Not only did the Mustangs show that they are an elite-level team, they showed they're a threat to win the Class 4A state title.

Schaumburg, Rich East, Warren and Proviso West all were unranked in the preseason. All three played for major holiday tournament championships.

Plainfield North, Lockport, Rich South, Conant and Naperville Central proved they can hold their own with any team in the state.

TEAMS THAT BLEW IT: Seton, Crete-Monee, Foreman, Joliet, Waukegan, Zion-Benton and Young.

MADE PUBLIC LEAGUE PROUD: Hyde Park and Hope. The Thunderbirds won the Centralia title, and the Eagles beat highly regarded Champaign Centennial to win the Kankakee championship. It looks like things will be up for grabs in the Public League Red-Central this winter.

BEST CLUTCH PERFORMANCE: Take your pick. Almost every game at Pontiac came down to the final shot, and Smith's basket with time running out gave Thornton the Big Dipper title.

Plainfield North senior Chris McMath's clutch heroics probably were the most unlikely. He drained a jumper to give the Tigers the lead late in the game; then he made a basket at the buzzer to tie the game and was fouled. With no time remaining, he converted a free throw to upset top-ranked Waukegan.

BEST LITTLE MAN: Plainfield North's Lemon was a joy to watch on the court. The unlikeliest A.C. Williamson award winner ever reminded plenty of fans exactly why they love high school basketball.

TOUGH GUYS: O'Neal gutted his way through an injury against Thornton in the Big Dipper final.

Payne battled back spasms throughout the Pontiac tournament, but you never would have known from watching his performance.

BEST QUOTE: ''Which one was Richmond? We just knew we were supposed to stop No. 23 and No. 30.''

--Plainfield North's McMath after the Tigers upset top-ranked Waukegan and superstar junior Jereme Richmond at the Pontiac tournament.

Contributing: Scott Powers, Steve Tucker, Patrick Z. McGavin