Boys Basketball: Oak Park downs Downers North behind Gabe Levin

Updated: December 2, 2011 11:58PM

Gabe Levin thought he had a bad night.

“Fortunately, it’s a team game, and everybody else did well,“ the Oak Park-River Forest junior forward said.

It is all a matter of context.

Levin scored 13 points and the No. 18 Huskies held Downers North without a first-quarter point as host Oak Park-River Forest rolled to the 52-34 West Suburban Silver conference opener Friday night.

Levin scored the final five points of the opening quarter, punctuated with a three-pointer from the left wing, that shot the Huskies (4-0, 1-0) to an 8-0 lead after the first quarter. The Huskies’ swarming, aggressive pressure defense forced nine Downers North turnovers. The Trojans missed their only four shots in the quarter.

Downers North turned the ball over 21 times and recorded only 11 baskets for the game.

“Defense is what we really preach, and you saw that tonight, we gave up no points in that first quarter,” Levin said. “Our defense triggers our offense.”

Star guard Ka’Darryl Bell, a Bradley recruit, added 12 points for the Huskies. He shrugged off a slow start, scoring 11 of his points in the final three quarters. His backcourt mate, junior Jakari Cammon, energized the Huskies offensively and defensively.

He had four steals in the first half. He scored five of his nine points in the second quarter as OPRF ran out to the 24-9 lead at the break.

“With us, it’s all about team chemistry and that’s why we’ve had this start,” Levin said. “Everybody picks each other up, and we all know where the other players are.”

Downers North (2-4, 0-1) finally broke into the scoring column on freshman forward Dave Edwards’ two free throws at the 7:39 mark of the second quarter. Senior 6-7 forward Rob Mahlke, who led the Trojans with 13 points, scored Downers North’s first basket off a lay up at the 6:58 mark of the second quarter.

Downers North coach James Thomas was very disappointed by his team’s passive play. “I don’t know why we came out scared, because we had two excellent days of practice and we showed much more aggression breaking the press,” he said.

“I know they’re longer than us, but we had 15 turnovers and one assist in the first half, and that’s not Downers North basketball,” he said.

Former Huskies star Iman Shumpert, the New York Knicks’ No. 1 draft choice, had his No. 32 jersey retired during a special halftime ceremony.

“My coach [Al Allen] used to always joke with me, ‘If you’re good enough, maybe someday they’ll retire your number,’ so this was very special,” he said.

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