Carmel dumps North Lawndale to win tourney title

It was an historic night for the Carmel boys basketball team on Saturday at Grant.

For the first time in their four years in the Grant Thanksgiving Tournament, the Corsairs won the championship, defeating North Lawndale in the title game, 70-57.

It was the first time in four tries at the tournament that Carmel got a win over North Lawndale, which won the championship last season.

Meanwhile, Carmel sophomore guard Kimahri Wilson made his own history, scoring a career-high 36 points to best his previous career-high of 30 points which he set on Friday at the tournament against Rockford Boylan.

"This is a really good win for us," Carmel coach Zack Ryan said. "North Lawndale is a really good team and they've had our number the last few years at this tournament.

"But we were able to handle their pressure this time and we got a lot of easy baskets off of it."

Carmel was up by as many as 24 points in the fourth quarter before settling for the 13-point win.

"We made our free throws and we defended them pretty well through the game," Ryan said.

Wilson, who started for the Corsairs last year as a freshman, was clutch at the free throw line, connecting on 14-of-16 free throws.

"One of the biggest improvements Kimahri made since last year has been his free throws," Ryan said. "He did a nice job of getting to the basket and finishing at the rim or getting fouled and making free throws."

Johnny Roeser and Damone Williams-Gray added 10 points apiece for Carmel.

Wilson was named the most valuable player of the tournament while Roeser and Williams-Gray were named all-tournament.

North Lawndale was led by Demetrius Douglas who scored 31 points.

Carmel is now 3-1 on the season, as is North Lawndale.

Grant 67, Chicago Schurz 62: Hunter Waszkowski scored 18 points and Tavarus Williams added 14 points to lead Grant to a win over Schurz in the Thanksgiving tournament hosted at Grant.

The Bulldogs also got double-figures out of Henry Kusiak (12 points) and Torren Curry (11 points).

Grant went 2-2 in the tournament, with its other win over tournament champion Carmel.

Huntley 67, Lake Zurich 55: At Johnsburg, Uchenna Egekeze scored a game-high 24 points, including three of the Red Raiders' nine 3-pointers.

Huntley (3-1), which won its final three games in the tournament co-hosted by Johnsburg and Richmond-Burton, also received 15 points from Ryan Sroka. Davis Pasco scored 13 points and also sank three 3s. Egekeze and Sroka represented the Red Raiders on the all-tournament team.

Lake Zurich (2-2), which trailed 20-10 after one quarter and never recovered, was led by all-tournament selection J.R. Cison, who scored 21 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Matt McGraw added 19 points, including a 3. Will Tucker, who also was named to the all-tournament team, had 7 points.

Johnsburg 47, Lakes 36: Johnsburg defeated Lakes on Saturday in the final day of tournament play at the Johnsburg-Richmond Burton Thanksgiving Tournament. Lakes was led by Matt Ott with 16 points on 4 3-pointers and Johnsburg was led by Zach Toussaint with 20 points. Lakes finishes the week at 0-4.

Lakes guard Brad Cherry was selected to the all-tournament team.

Wauconda 70, Richmond-Burton 57: Wauconda was up 19-6 at the end of the first quarter en route to its victory over Richmond-Burton at the Johnsburg-Richmond-Burton Thanksgiving Tournament.

Donovan Carter led Wauconda with 22 points, including two 3-pointers.

Connor Brannick had 11 points on two 3-pointers and also dished out 5 assists.

Nick Bulgarelli stuffed the stat sheet with 8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists.

Wauconda went 2-2 in the tournament.