The gym in Richton Park was bursting at the seams for the highly-anticipated showdown between host Rich and Homewood-Flossmoor, the defending Class 4A state champions in the Big Dipper Holiday Tournament title game on Sunday.
At halftime, it even had to be cleared out a bit. Fans who had to leave were offered -refunds.
”By order of the fire marshal, if you are -sitting in the aisles you will be asked to leave,” the PA announcer said.
The Big Dipper is a beloved south-suburban institution that has been back bigger than ever the last few seasons. This year was special. For the first time in 31 years, the host school won.
The Raptors (7-4) are one of the most -talented teams in the state and received a lot of attention in the preseason. But their early results were a letdown.
“We had to correct some stuff so we did some team bonding,” junior Jayden -Williams said. “We all did Christmas together as -teammates.”
It worked. Rich knocked off undefeated, top-ranked Kenwood in the semifinals on -Saturday and took down H-F 81-67 in the championship game.
“This feels amazing,” junior guard Jamson Coulter said. “We worked our butts off and came to play. I’m just happy for the program. All the work we put in is showing.”
Coulter scored 30 points. Senior Al Brooks added 12 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks. Coulter and Brooks were established stars last season. Williams, who scored 18 points, had a breakout week. He had 21 in the semifinals against Kenwood.
Rich coach Lou Adams wasn’t on the sideline for the game. He has been dealing with some health issues so he wasn’t coaching. But he was on the baseline watching and occasionally looking more involved than his doctors might have preferred.
“I had some issues [during the semifinal against Kenwood on Saturday],” Adams said. “So I had to play it by ear today. I’m so proud of these guys. We brought it back.”
Rich led 37-30 at halftime. The Vikings -(13-2) cut the lead to 66-61 on a layup by Jayden Tyler with 3:20 left but that was as close as they would get.
Tyler led H-F with 24 points and four steals and senior Arden Eaves added 18 points and six rebounds.
“They made a lot of threes,” H-F coach -Jamere Dismukes said. “We are back to the drawing board to see what we can do. The -biggest takeaway from us is allowing those shots. It seems like they wanted it a little more.”
