Sports

H-F Basketball Has a Bishop to Rule in the Paint

Homewood-Flossmoor senior forward Antonio Bishop came up big on the defensive end in the Vikings' 36-22 sectional semifinal victory over Andrew on Wednesday. Next up for the Vikings is a battle with neighborhood rival Bloom.

Antonio Bishop’s one offensive highlight was a dandy—to be sure.

Bishop, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, took a no-look pass from junior Thad Little and pounded down a two-handed dunk in the second quarter of Homewood-Flossmoor’s 36-22 victory over Andrew Wednesday in a semifinal game at the Class 4A Lockport Sectional.

For much of the rest of the night, Bishop did his best work on the defensive end of the floor for . He drew the assignment of guarding Andrew’s leading scorer, 6-6 junior Jubril Adekoya.

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Bishop pitched a shutout in the first half against Adekoya by working to deny him the ball in the post and relying on his teammates to double-down when Adekoya did get a rare touch. Adekoya missed all four of his shots in the first half.

He scored all 14 of his points in the second half, but many of those came after it was too late for the Thunderbolts.

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“We focused on double-teaming him in the post and switching off on him with the screens,” Bishop said. “I think we did a great job with it. If he got me on the screen, I would try to come from behind. But, mostly, I tried to front him.”

Bishop picked up help from 6-7 senior Tim Williams, 6-5 junior Maurius Hill and a couple of the Vikings’ guards, too, chief among them Tyrone Sherman.

“We played great help defense,” Bishop said. “Tim (Williams), Tyrone dropping from the top. It was great defense. That was the win for us. It was a low-scoring game.”

Homewood-Flossmoor (22-7) limited Andrew to 5-of-42 shooting (11.9 percent) and held the T-Bolts without a field goal in two of the four quarters (the first and the fourth quarters). Williams blocked seven shots and snared seven rebounds.

Bishop scored seven points and made 3-of-4 free throws. His offense was a bonus. He altered a number of shots put up by Andrew in the paint as the Vikings used their size to disrupt the T-Bolts.

“Anyone that plays Andrew knows that’s the focus,” H-F coach Jim McLaughlin said. “You’ve got to stop Jubril (Adekoya) inside. We really had a good plan in place of how we wanted to defend him.

“We wanted to stay in a position where we could always constantly double when he touched the basketball. I don’t think there were many times when he got the ball inside where didn’t have two guys 6-6 or 6-7 surrounding him.

“I don’t care who you are—or if you’re the best player. If you’ve got two guys coming at you, it’s going force you to make some errors. We’re very fortunate that our two big guys really bought into the defensive scheme tonight.”

The win sends H-F on to face Bloom Township at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the sectional final at Lockport. Bloom advanced with a 44-24 victory over Thornton on Tuesday. The Blazing Trojans defeated H-F twice during the regular season, once in overtime.

“I think we’re ready for Bloom,” Sherman said. “We took those two losses early in the season. We’re a completely different team right now. We’re hungry. We focus more. We concentrate more. And coach (McLaughlin) tells us every day we have to have heart to win the games at the end in the fourth quarter.”

“It’s a neighborhood game,” McLaughlin said. “It’s going to be a war. It’s going to be a slugfest. We’ve been playing each other for more than 50 years. So, anytime H-F plays Bloom, throw the records out the door.

“It doesn’t matter where it’s at. It could be a summer game. It could be a game over here for a sectional championship. It’s going to be a great game. The kids are going to play their hearts out.

“And we’re looking forward to the opportunity of coming back and practicing tomorrow, which was one of our biggest goals. We wanted to practice on Thursday. And the only way you practice on Thursday is if you take care business on Wednesday.”


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