News Every Day | 01:27

Michael O'Brien's high school basketball weekly rewind

Romeoville has been an intriguing and at times, frustrating program over coach Marc Howard’s 12 seasons. The Spartans are always talented and they’ve won more than 20 games each of the last two seasons. But there hasn’t been any playoff success.

Howard has changed things up to try and fix the problem.

“We put our team in some tough competition early,” Howard said “I’m tired of having lackluster success as we close out the season. We always start off good, get a lot of wins but we don’t close out the way we want. This year I wanted to try something different and play some tough teams early and see if that can carry us down the road.”

Romeoville opened the season in central Illinois at the prestigious Tournament of Champions in Washington. The Spartans took some lumps and then lost a home game to Plainfield South.

But everything turned around in a win on Friday at Joliet West. Romeoville has a heated rivalry with the Tigers and earning a win there on the road is the type of victory that can jumpstart a season.

Senior Damion Porter Jr. scored 39 points. Senior guards Danny Thompson and DJ Hampton played well. But the real eye-opener was sophomore Jamarri Fears.

The younger brother of Jeremy Fears Jr. and Jeremiah Fears didn’t enter high school with the same level of hype as his brothers. Jamarri played on Joliet West’s sophomore team last season and transferred to Romeoville over the summer. He didn’t start Tuesday’s game for Romeoville but he was on the court most of the game and in crunch time.

Fears’ two free throws with 31 seconds left gave the Spartans the lead for good. He finished with nine points, five rebounds and four steals. It’s too early to know if Fears will become the high-level college prospect his brothers were, but he undoubtedly looks like he will grow into an excellent high school player.

“His defense on the ball, his IQ and his ability to be a pest is something we can really use to our advantage,” Howard said. “For the last couple of years I’ve had to face that. Feels good to have it.”

Downers Grove North isn’t down

Downers Grove North was one of the elite teams in the state for the past two seasons, finishing in the final four and elite eight of Class 4A. That core graduated and the Trojans were expected to be a solid but unspectacular team this year.

That didn’t happen. Downers Grove North is 8-0 after knocking off De La Salle on Sunday. Coach Jim Thomas returned ten seniors from last year, led by Jack Crowley, 6-6 Bobby Grganto and 6-6 Aidan Akkawi.

The Trojans have also beaten Proviso East, Metea Valley and Oak Park. They host Hinsdale Central on Friday, which will be a major test.

Holiday Tournaments are around the corner

All the major holiday tournament brackets other than Proviso West have been released. Pontiac has added DePaul Prep and still features Simeon, Curie and Benet. It will have the strongest field overall. York’s top teams are Bolingbrook, Metamora, Rolling Meadows, St. Ignatius and St. Laurence. Rich’s Big Dipper Tournament added Kenwood. The Broncos could meet the host Raptors in the semifinals and defending state champs Homewood-Flossmoor in the title game.

This week’s notable results

Tuesday, Dec. 10
Agricultural Science 53, Crane 50
Barrington 61, Prospect 47
Bloom 70, Hammond Central, Ind. 54
Bolingbrook 67, Oswego East 46
Hersey 52, Hoffman Estates 51, ot
Hinsdale Central 53, St. Patrick 48
Homewood-Flossmoor 72, Bradley-Bourbonnais 38
Lincoln Park 72, Curie 70
North Lawndale 55, Farragut 46
Oak Lawn 59, Hillcrest 57
Perspectives-Lead 56, Payton 41
Rolling Meadows 53, Palatine 30
Romeoville 69, Joliet West 66

Wednesday, Dec. 11
McHenry 51, Crystal Lake South 49
Stevenson 60, Libertyville 55, ot
Warren 63, Lake Forest 49

Thursday, Dec. 12
Deerfield 46, Evanston 40
Kankakee 65, Mexico, Mo. 35
Kenwood 58, Simeon 55
Marshall 52, Farragut 40
Perspectives-Leadership 78, North Lawndale 74

Friday, Dec. 13
Archbishop Spalding, Md. 64, Lane 62
Benet 74, Marist 66, ot
Bolingbrook 74, Plainfield North 63
Francis Parker 71, Latin 69
Fremd 70, Conant 47
Loyola 48, St. St. Ignatius 45
McHenry 68, Burlington Central 67
Mount Carmel 66, De La Salle 63
New Trier 73, Maine South 56
Palatine 61, Barrington 41
Romeoville 69, Middleton (WI) 54
Waubonsie Valley 53, DeKalb 39

Saturday, Dec. 14
Brother Rice 85, Oak Lawn 77
Curie 56, TF North 50
Kenwood 73, Downers Grove South 59
Lemont 57, Marian Catholic 53, 2ot
Mount Carmel 75, Young 54
Mundelein 47, Stevenson 45, ot
Nicolet, Wis. 85, Romeoville 67
Niles North 68, Simeon 56
North Little Rock, Ark. 68, Lincoln Park 59
Rich 72, Waukegan 59
St. Ignatius, Ohio 64, Lane 40
St. Louis Vashon 77, Perspectives-Leadership 35
Waubonsie Valley 76, Oswego 42