Blackshear's back as Mustangs win

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Wayne Blackshear made a quiet return to the Morgan Park lineup on Wednesday.

Blackshear finished with nine points – all of them in the second half – and added seven rebounds as No. 25 Morgan Park held off visiting Harlan 56-48 Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the Public League playoffs.

Senior guard Andre Hall led the Mustangs (17-5) with 16 points and junior guard Jerome Brown added 14 points, all of them coming in the first half.

But the attention was on Blackshear, a junior guard who has verbally committed to Louisville. He has been out of the lineup since injuring his right Achilles tendon and heel on Jan. 16. He was expected to miss a month, but returned in 18 days and was in the starting lineup Wednesday.

"I felt good out there," Blackshear said. "Not 100 percent, but about 75 percent. I just needed to come back and try to play and loosen everything up."

In the first half, Blackshear only attempted one shot and had two rebounds. But Brown picked up the slack, scoring the Mustangs' first 11 points.

"We had to come out with a lot of energy and keep going," Brown said. "Wayne draws a lot of attention. We knew he couldn't do a lot, but he did what he could to help us win."

"Yeah, it was his first game back and we were just trying to work him in," Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin said. "Just his presence out there helps everyone else."

Harlan (14-11) never led. The Falcons tied the game once, at 11-11 on a steal and layup by senior guard Sean Hill with 2:41 left in the first quarter.

Hall then scored nine points, on a pair of three-pointers and an old fashioned three-point play, as the Mustangs went on a 15-2 burst to take a 26-13 lead with 3:33 left in the first half. They led 30-18 at halftime.

Blackshear nailed his first shot 56 seconds into the second half, a 16-footer from the right side. Harlan did close within seven points on four occasions, the last at 51-44 on a rebound basket by Shaquille Hines with 3:40 to play in the game.

But the Falcons went another 3:15 without scoring and Blackshear sealed the win by gliding in for a layup with 22 seconds remaining.

"Everyone is going to look at me, and Andre and Jerome took advantage of that," Blackshear said. "In the second half I just came out and played."

Hill led Harlan with 13 points, Hines finished with 12 points and eight rebounds and Don Kellum added nine boards for the Falcons, who had a 35-28 rebounding advantage.