Smith takes charge for new-look Lyons

Lyons fans will need a roster next season with a nearly complete overhaul of the boys varsity basketball team.

Lyons graduated its top seven players from the team that repeated as West Suburban Silver champion and will feature plenty of new faces next season. Determining who’s who will take some time.

This summer’s workouts are designed to help coach Tom Sloan decide who can play at the varsity level. Lyons appeared in the last of its three summer shootouts last weekend at Riverside-Brookfield’s Minute Man Classic. In Friday’s early rounds, Sloan had 10 players and made substitutions with five players at a time in a platoon.

“We have a chance to see what kids can play at the varsity level (in the summer),” Sloan said. “We’ll know who our top group of 8 to 10 players will be. It’s a different group of guys on the floor together.”

Senior guard Kenneth Smith is Lyons’ most experienced returning player, though he rarely played in the postseason. Eventual Class 4A state champion Simeon defeated Lyons 64-51 in the sectional semifinals.

“It’s a new group, but we’re still pretty good,” Smith said. “A lot of guys left after last year. We have a few juniors becoming seniors. I have a big role to take on as a leadership role with Matt Robare.”

Lyons ends play later this month in the Oak Park-River Forest summer league by playing games on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Smith is headed later this month to an AAU tournament to Las Vegas with the Lake Forest-based Full Package 11th Grade Black. On Sunday, Smith was expected to participate in the D-1 Elite Invitational for college prospects at York in Elmhurst.

He starts playing Wednesday at the Best of the Midwest, which ends Friday in Indianapolis.

Smith was a regular off the bench last season for Lyons, which used five senior starters and featured regular senior reserves in Dylan Fiedler and Mark Sewell. Smith was last year’s first junior off the bench.

“Last year, I got in once in a while,” Smith said. “I was a role player. This year, I’ll play the whole game. It will be a pretty big difference. I know all of us will lead and I’ll have to step it up.”

Smith said he is working on his midrange jumper and left-handed ball handling this summer.

Robare was one of three members of last season’s basketball team to go on to win the state baseball championship. Starting guard Spencer Mahoney was the starting shortstop and leadoff hitter for Lyons while reserve forward Brian Kelley was the starting center fielder. Robare appeared in 14 games as an outfielder and seven games as a pitcher for the baseball team.

In addition to Robare, this year’s basketball team has other multiple-sport athletes such as football players Connor Onion and Parker Beck and even soccer-tennis player Chris O’Reilly.

“Our guys do a good job (balancing sports),” Sloan said. “Communication with me is No. 1. You have to understand a lot of the commitments when you play more than one sport.”

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