Boys Basketball: Keith Carter, unbeaten Proviso East win 25th

Opposing coaches will be happy when “The Keith Carter Show” finally goes into syndication.

They don’t want to see any new episodes. The latest occurred Wednesday, when Carter had 19 points, five steals and five assists to lead No. 2 Proviso East to a 63-48 victory over Oak Park-River Forest in the inaugural West Suburban Conference championship game in Maywood.

It was the final regular-season home game for Carter, who has been on varsity since being called up for the playoffs his freshman year. Oak Park coach Matt Maloney is one of those who will be glad to see the 6-1 senior point guard graduate.

“Very much so,” Maloney said. “He’s been around for four years and I’ve known him since he’s been coming to Oak Park summer leagues. He’s a tremendous player.

“He makes everyone around him better. He’s the guy that really runs the ship and he goes as they go. When he’s playing really well, he’s penetrating, he’s kicking, he’s finding guys, and everyone is in rhythm. That’s what great point guards do.”

That is what Carter did in the third quarter to turn a competitive game into Proviso East’s 25th consecutive victory. The Pirates (25-0) led just 22-19 at halftime after the visiting Huskies (18-6) forced them to play a halfcourt game.

But Carter had five points, three assists and two steals during the decisive third quarter, which began with a 15-3 run by Proviso. He then drove the lane on the first two possessions of the fourth quarter, assisting on a layup by Paris Lee and a dunk by Sterling Brown that made it 49-27.

“I thought we played about as well as we could play in the first half, controlling the tempo and I felt pretty confident coming into half,” Maloney said. “We just wanted to make sure when they threw that first punch we were able to counter it, and unfortunately they threw several before we countered it.”

That was just how Proviso East coach Donnie Boyce imagined it.

“At halftime I just told the guys, you know, we’ve been in games like this before and we’ve just got to stay the course,” Boyce said. “I thought Keith did a really good job of picking up the tempo and getting it back in our type of style of game.

“I thought in the first half we allowed them to control the tempo. We don’t mind playing the halfcourt, but our strength is our overall quickness. We’re trying to continue that march and get ready for the state tournament.”

The Pirates forced eight Oak Park turnovers in the third quarter, with seven coming off steals. Even when the Pirates couldn’t score in transition, Carter did a masterful job of running the offense and avoiding the trapping double-teams the Huskies threw at him, several times wriggling out of trouble near the time line and finding the open man.

“I just try to keep my head up,” said Carter, who was 11-for-11 from the free-throw line. “My teammates do a good job of letting me know who is doubling and I know how to get the ball to.”

The Pirates again had balanced scoring, with Lee scoring 16 points to go with six steals and three assists and Brown chipping in nine points and nine rebounds. Paris Burns had five points, 10 boards and three steals, while Treshaun Carroll tallied all eight of his points in the second half to go with eight rebounds.

While Carter, a St. Louis recruit, was happy with the WSC title, he wasn’t overjoyed.

“It means a lot,” Carter said. “It feels good so far, but the road is not accomplished. We’ve done a lot of losing the last couple years. Well, not a lot, but more than expected. We came up short the last two years and we’re just trying to go as far as we can this year.”

Indeed, the Pirates failed to win a regional the past two seasons, the first time since 1981-83 that they went consecutive seasons without doing so. Carter wants to change that.

“Last year was a tough experience for us losing the regional championship (to Proviso West),” Carter said. “We kind of overlooked our opponent and now we’re just trying to take each game one at a time.”

Gabe Levin had a big game for Oak Park, recording 19 points, 13 rebounds, six steals and five blocks. But no other player reached double figures, as guards Jakari Cammon and Ka’Darryl Bell were held to nine and seven points, respectively.

But Maloney was encouraged by the fact the Huskies, who could face the Pirates again in the Class 4A Schaumburg Sectional final, played Proviso East evenly for three of the four quarters.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Maloney said. “They fought until the end and we showed that if we clean up some things, we’ll hopefully give them a better fight next time for four quarters and not three.”

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