Green Christmas: Stevenson standout back in action

Cameron Green was the first player off the bench, and he certainly was ready to step onto the court for Stevenson on Monday night.

Playing his second game back after recovering from a broken hand, Green had gray protective tape on the affected area. But he wasn’t cautious with his play and made a short jump shot with a couple of minutes left in the opening quarter.

Those were Green’s first points of the season; he ended up with 4 points and a rebound in about five minutes of playing time.

“It feels great — these are my best friends,” Green said. “It’s pretty fun to get back out there playing and keeping up with them.

“It’s kind of natural for me to get back out here. These guys are picking me up and pushing me around. The coaches are getting me back into shape.”

Stevenson got its game into shape, rolling past Urban Prep West 78-36 in the prestigious Proviso West Tournament in Hillside on Monday.

Jalen Brunson led the Patriots (9-0) with 17 points, Matthew Johnson added 14 and Connor Cashaw chipped in with 12.

“We did the right things,” Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. “(Urban Prep West) was trying to do things to get us out of our game. We just had to settle things down.”

The Patriots broke away from the Cougars (8-1) late in the first quarter. With the game tied 5-5, Stevenson went on a 14-4 run as Cashaw capped it off with a couple of free throws.

Then Stevenson broke the game wide open. Urban Prep West hit the opening basket from Martell Williams (13 points) starting the second quarter to trail 19-11.

But the Patriots used a 19-0 run capped off by a short jumper from Justin Smith (9 points) with 1:25 left in the second quarter for a 38-11 advantage.

“I thought (Urban Prep West) got a little tired,” Ambrose said. “We just wore them down defensively.”

Cashaw had 6 points and 3 steals in Stevenson’s run.

The Patriots led at the break 40-13 and bumped the lead out to 67-24 after three quarters.

Stevenson next meet New Trier (5-4) at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Proviso West in the Round of 16. The Trevians won their opening game against Wheaton Academy 57-37 on Monday.