Oak Park looks inside to Levin, Allen

Summertime is one way of finding out who can play or who can’t play.

So when Oak Park-River Forest boys basketball Matt Maloney pairs returning starter Gabe Levin with newcomer Virgil Allen, it’s hard to tell what will happen.

Levin, a 6-foot-6 senior, is expected to be one of the top post players in the West Suburban Silver Conference for next season. Allen played on the sophomore team last season and appears better suited for the football team at 6-7, 240-pounds. Still, Allen, who is not related to former OPRF varsity coach Al Allen, will be tough to push around in the post next season.

But instead of Levin, it was Allen who made the game-winning shot to beat St. Joseph 48-46 in overtime Friday morning in one of three games at the 16th annual Stagg Summer Shootout.

The Huskies also played Downers South and Brother Rice Friday and returned to play Marist, Sandburg and Joliet West on Saturday.

Allen looks bigger than his self-proclaimed weight of 240. He knows one of the things he is working on this summer is conditioning, along with his jump shot and leg strength.

“I’ve worked out a lot,” Allen said. “I used to be bigger. I’ve slimmed down.”

The Huskies (10-13 last season, 5-7 West Suburban Silver), which lost six consecutive games to end the high school season, is led by Levin and point guard Ka’Darryl Bell. One of the team’s other main contributors this summer is 6-2 senior forward Alex Nesnidal, a reserve from last season.

“I used to play volleyball, but I quit volleyball last year,” Nesnidal said. “Now I only play basketball in the summer.”

Nesnidal also joins Levin and Bell as members of the Lake County-based AAU Full Package basketball team, but Nesnidal plays on a separate team scheduled to compete in several national tournaments in July.

“I love doing my job as a shooter on the team,” Nesnidal said. “Steven Waddell has backed me up. We keep trying to knock down the easy layups.”

The Stagg Shootout did not feature a playoff round, but the Huskies won the UIC Shootout one week earlier.

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