Curie flexes depth in neighborhood rivalry

Updated: March 23, 2011 9:48AM

In the last two years, Curie has lost some of the biggest names in basketball, most notoriously Morgan Park's Wayne Blackshear, Proviso East's Trashaun Carroll and Foreman's Asante Smiter.

Curie coach Mike Oliver has remained unfazed by it all. With good reason, Oliver has a lot of weapons at his disposal. Most important, team chemistry is never an issue.

The No. 23 Condors showed off their depth and talent to impressive effect. They notched five double-figure scorers as host Curie forced 33 Hubbard turnovers and scored a season-high total in its 100-71 demolishing of its neighborhood rival Friday.

"That's the key to this team," Oliver said. "We have 10-12 guys that can play, they're all pretty much interchangeable and it's a group that has been together for three years and won the city championship last year as sophomores."

The most frightening part of all is the Condors (18-1, 6-0 Red-Central) have just one senior in their rotation. Freshman Cliff Alexander had 19 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

Junior guards Paris Burns and Devin Foster were the catalysts. Burns (11 points, five steals, four assists) keyed a 9-0 first quarter explosion that propelled the Condors to a 28-16 advantage.

"We know basketball is a game of runs," Burns said. "I felt as if the team was looking for me to do something out there and get us going. We're not very big, but we're quick and fast and we know how to get to the spots on the floor and deny the ball and that's what we did."

Behind the sharp-shooting of guard Javon Fields (28 points), the Greyhounds survived the initial run with a 8-0 burst of their own. Hubbard (6-8, 1-5) trailed just 43-36 at the break. Foster ignited the game-altering third quarter scoring frenzy. The left-handed guard scored 10 consecutive Curie points as the Condors turned the game into a rout with a 17-4 burst in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

"I felt like I played alright in the first half," Foster said, "but I wanted to come out and do more in that third quarter. We did that, and we came out hard and aggressive." Curie forced 13 Hubbard turnovers in the third quarter. The racehorse style of play yielded a 30-point quarter as Curie built its advantage to 73-57.

Ten different Curie players scored. Junior Thomas Smith contributed 18 points and junior reserve guard Reece Fleming Jr. added 10 points. Junior Jibreel Jackson also scored nine points and set the team's season high total and century mark by converting two free throws with 9.2 seconds remaining.

Marcus Taylor added 14 points for the Greyhounds.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.