Surles Has the Game to Stamp His Name on the Homewood-Flossmoor Boys Basketball Map

Tim Williams. Tyrone Sherman. Delvon Rencher.

All seniors. All household names in the Homewood-Flossmoor boys basketball world.

Rashaan Surles is auditioning to step in and fill the void when they depart. Surles scored seven of his nine points in the fourth quarter of H-F’s 45-36 victory over Sandburg on Friday night in Orland Park.

He made 5-of-6 free throws in the stretch and helped the Vikings (11-4, 5-0) rid a monkey from their back.

“By far, the biggest positive for us was the free throw line,” coach Jim McLaughlin said after H-F tuned out a boisterous Eagle crowd and converted 18-of-22. “We’ve had a thorn in our side. We’ve lost four tough games because of the free throw line.

“So, it’s nice to see that our guys stepped up there with confidence when we needed them, especially Rashaan Surles. He hit a couple of big ones late in the game.”

Surles, a 6-foot-4 junior guard, misfired in a similar situation in H-F’s 70-65 double-overtime loss to Bloom in the championship game of the Chicago Heights Classic earlier.

“Personally, it’s a concentration thing,” Surles said. “When you concentrate, you make your free throws. That’s what ‘Mac’ tries to stress every day in practice. I try to narrow it down to make my free throws because in that Bloom game I missed two big ones and we lost.

“So, that’s one thing as a team we’re trying to work on. The crowd? After your first basket, you zone everything out. It becomes smooth, and you only see what’s on the court. So, the crowd—the band—they really weren’t a factor.”

What was a factor: His mental approach.

“It was just not thinking about missing the free throws—the pressure, just relaxing, taking deep breaths and making sure I concentrated,” Surles said.

He is showing signs of developing into the next name H-F will hang on its basketball marquee. He is learning from Sherman, the Vikings’ point guard and floor leader.

Sherman’s man-to-man defense denied Sandburg’s Nick Lehnerer from finding his offensive rhythm. Lehnerer was limited to three points on 1-of-7 shooting. He was coming on a 27-point outburst against Lincoln-Way East.

“I don’t know what you can say about Tyrone Sherman,” McLaughlin said. “The kid (Lehnerer) had 27points last weekend, and he held him (in check) for 30 minutes of the basketball game until he hit the last 3 there. He did a great job.

“We gave him the job earlier in the week. We told him he was going to have him, and he accepted the challenge. He worked his tail off to defend him. The kids’ a great player. He can shoot the basketball.”

Before long, ‘Mac’ might be saying that about Surles, too.