High-flying Hawks soar past another NSC Prairie foe

NORTH CHICAGO -- No team playing prep basketball around here -- absolutely nobody -- can put up points faster than North Chicago's boys basketball team.

Just ask the young men who play hoops for Antioch.

Here Friday night, the Sequoits actually led North Chicago 7-6 midway through the first quarter.

But before Antioch scored again -- early in the second period -- North Chicago scored 21 straight points to take a 27-7 lead.

Game over.

The final was 85-41, with ailing North Chicago coach Gerald "King" Coleman calling off the attack dogs with the 100-point mark in clear view after three quarters.

North Chicago is now 19-2 on the season and 11-0 in the Prairie Division of the North Suburban Conference. The Hawks have Wauconda next Friday, then close the regular season with tough games against Waukegan (non-conference), Zion/Stevenson/Lake Forest (whoever wins the North Suburban Conference Lake Division) and Lake Forest (non-conference).

Friday was Senior Night at North Chicago, and all senior boys basketball players, girls basketball players, and cheerleaders were honored.

That list included star power forward Kentrall Wilson, who came up huge in the game, scoring 19 points. The other three seniors -- Patrick Terrell (3), D.J. Henning (3), and Donzell Jones (4) -- also played a lot and contributed to the win.

"I was proud of the seniors," said Coleman, fighting a losing battle with a cold. "I was able to play a them a lot of minutes tonight, and I was happy about that."

Keith Ford had 17 points and Blake Collins 13 for the Hawks, while Kyle Haley had 10 points for an Antioch team that has won just once all season.

Coleman's squad had 47 points at halftime and led 74-35 after three quarters, when he pulled the plug on his offensive machine.

Antioch will try for Win No. 2 next Friday against a good Warren squad.