Travis steers Curie into finals

Updated: March 23, 2011 3:52PM

Greg Travis is the old man of Curie. As the only senior on a stacked and deep team, Travis is the player the rest of the team looks for leadership and poise under pressure.

The UIC-recruit shot No. 9 Curie out to an early lead and then watched his talented and deep team pick up the slack as Curie rode a hot third quarter to blitz Richards 69-49 in a Class 4A Vocational Regional Tuesday night.

"For me, every game here on is either going to be my last (high school) game or we're going to help the team advance to the next round," Travis said. "I want to be that leader."

The Condors advance to Friday's championship against the winner of Vocational and Hyde Park.

Travis scored seven of his 12 points in the first quarter. "I was hot during the three-point shooting contest and I just stayed hot," Travis said.

Travis and junior guard Paris Burns (12 points) alternated three-point shots from the left wing at the end of the second quarter to put the Condors (27-2) up 33-26 at the break.

Curie got loose with the ball at the start of the third quarter, turning it over on three of its first four possessions. Senior Richards guard Tim Stokes (10 points) drilled a three-pointer from the right baseline that pulled the Bulldogs (10-17) within 35-31.

Curie responded with an impressive 11-2 flourish to seize control. Freshman Cliff Alexander (12 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocked shots) keyed the run with consecutive blocked shots and junior guard Devin Foster hit a critical three-pointer as he scored seven points during the Condors' burst.

"We're not a one-man team," Travis said. "We go 11, 12 deep and anybody on the team can score if we need them."

Alexander scored on a dunk and layup to extend the Condors' lead to 50-37 after three quarters.

Junior guard Jibreel Jackson scored six straight points and eight of his team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter.

Senior guard Dominique Gaddis scored 16 points to lead the Bulldogs.

"I'm proud of our kids and our effort," Richards coach John said Chappetto said. "I thought we did a good job through three quarters defensively of doing whatever was necessary to staying close, but we missed some chances, had some turnovers and missed some free throws and layups and they got easy baskets going the other way."

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