Pearson steps up as Maine West dumps Highland Park

After watching his sister Allison pour in points for four years at Maine West, Jared Pearson was ready to make his mark.

The sophomore, who is playing his first varsity game in his home gym, drilled six 3-pointers on his way to 21 points to lead the Warriors' boys basketball team past Highland Park 51-38 Thursday in a Central Suburban League game in Des Plaines.

"I like shooting in this gym," Jared Pearson said. "I have taken a lot of shots here in practice. It was great to finally get out here in a game. It was nice with the crowd and my teammates getting me going."

Pearson had started the first 4 games for Maine West (3-2, 0-1), which played over Thanksgiving at the Palatine tournament. He played well, but was held scoreless in his last game, so Pearson felt he had something to prove.

"I just had to mentally settle down and calm down," said Pearson, who is a sophomore. "I just had to settle down and trust that my teammates would pick me up."

Pearson looked pretty settled, converting 6-of-10 from outside the arc.

"We knew right from the jump coming out of the summer, he was going to be a varsity player for us," Maine West coach Tom Prokopij said. "He hasn't skipped a beat. He has gone right into the starting role and done some great things for us already."

Maine West's basketball team picked up where the football team left off in Central Suburban North play. The football team went unbeaten and rolled over all their conference opponents and the basketball team did that as well Thursday night.

The Warriors forced 11 first half turnovers as they built a 29-15 lead. Maine West used an early 12-2 run that culminated with a 3-point play by Pearson to give the Warriors the comfortable lead.

"We just decided we were going to do what we do and pressure them and it worked out for us," Prokopij said. "It is so important to get out to an early lead against them. If they get ahead of you, it is just too hard to come back against Highland Park."

Justin Scholler said that practice this week helped the Warriors on defense.

"I think our help side was really there," Scholler said. "We got a couple steals on the back doors. I think our preparation throughout the week was good. We knew some of their plays and that contributed as well."

Maine West opened up a 42-21 lead, but Highland Park (2-3, 0-1) made a run late in the third quarter. The Giants held the Warriors scoreless for 5½ minutes while running off 11 unanswered points to close to 42-32 with 7:28 to play.

Maine West responded by scoring the next 4 points on its way to a 7-2 run that was closed out by a 3-pointer by Ely Grimmer that put the game away.

"We wanted to get a win here to keep the home undefeated streak going for both the boys and girls basketball teams," Prokopij said. "The girls are definitely doing their part, so we have to hold up our part of the bargain."

Grimmer and Danny Rice each had 5 points while AJ Ross chipped in 4 points. Highland Park was led by Cole Beerman, who had 18 points with six 3-pointers.