Bunch's big game lifts Phoenix to title

North Lawndale’s Zilijan Jones tries to score against Peoria Manual during the first half.
(Scott Powers/For the Sun-Times)

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

PEORIA -- All season, North Lawndale’s Paul Bunch was a passive 6-10 sophomore in dire need of motivation.

But the big guy was motivated like never before in the biggest game of his life Saturday night and helped the Phoenix take that final giant step to the top of the mountain.

Bunch, who averages eight points and seven rebounds a game, scored 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting and added 11 rebounds and four blocked shots as North Lawndale beat Peoria Manual 56-42 to win the Class 2A championship at Carver Arena.

"I was thinking of Laquisha Reed," Bunch said, referring to the classmate who died of an undetermined illness on Thursday. "I know if she was alive, she’d be at home watching the game and cheering as hard as she could.

"I really wanted to win for coach [Lewis] Thorpe, my teammates, my teammate Thristian Crittle’s mother whose birthday was today. I knew I had it in me and it came out tonight."

Point guard Zilijan Jones played a gritty floor game against relentless Manual pressure and put the hammer down with eight of his 16 points in the final quarter as North Lawndale (30-4) earned its first state championship after losing in the quarterfinals in in 2006 and in the championship game last year.

"We did it. We did it. We did it," was all an emotional Jones could say in the celebration afterwards, tears streaming down his face. "This team would not be denied."

Bunch, who had five points and two rebounds against Chicago Christian in the supersectional and six points and two rebounds against Pinckneyville in the semifinals, had 14 points 7-of-8 shooting in the first 11 minutes of the game.

The highlight was a dominant three-minute stretch in the second quarter -- four consecutive baskets and four rebounds -- to cap a 10-0 run that gave the Phoenix a 25-14 lead.

"I told Paul before the game, 'You are the X-factor,'" Thorpe said. "'If you come to play, you’re going to walk out of here with a championship.' And when I walked away he grabbed my shoulder and said, 'I got you, coach.

"He told the team, 'I'm not going to let this team down.' He had this glare the whole time in the lockerroom. I said, 'He’s ready for real.' And he came to play. He was tremendous."

Manual (25-8) rallied with pressure defense to score six points in a 36-second span late in the first half to get within 27-23. But Miles Mayfield hit a huge three-pointer and Donte Dangerfield scored inside off a steal by Thrittle for a 32-23 halftime lead.

Jermaine Winfield, Jones and Jonathan Mills, playing on guts and a sprained ankle, put the finishing touches. Mills hit his first three-point attempt of the season for a 43-30 lead after three quarters and Jones had three baskets on drives as the Phoenix opened a 49-32 lead with 6:03 to go.

"It hurt so much last year," Thorpe said. "We’ve been talking about how it hurt all year. And they put in the hard work. It’s a tremendous accomplishment for this team."