Natalia Chi
Carlos Harris is only a junior, but he is one of the city’s most veteran college basketball players. He’s the man Curie coach Mike Oliver wants to have the ball in his hand when a match is looming.
Harris twice indicated why in the final seconds of Thursday’s 15th-ranked Curie defeating top-ranked Simeon 50-48.
The hosts Condors had the ball with the game tied and 20 seconds on the clock. Harris noticed he was wide open in the paint with 12 seconds remaining. No one was within three feet of him. Somehow, he resisted the urge to shoot the ball and Oliver called a timeout.
“It was too soon,” Harris said. “I knew it would time out when it was close to 10 seconds, so I had to wait.”
The decision paid off handsomely. After a timeout, Harris drove down the lane and emptied the winning floater with just under two seconds remaining on him. Simeon (20-2, 7-2 Red-South/Central) had no time to recover.
“I was kind of nervous to do that shot,” Harris said. “But I was also confident. It was a big game and I wanted to be the leader of this team, so I had to take that shot.”
Harris has 11 points and 6 rebounds. He shot 4-of-15.
“Definitely missed a lot of shots,” Harris said. “But I had to stay aggressive.”
Curie (16-9, 6-2) were trailed by four at half-time. Simeon built a lead by the fourth quarter. Wes gave Rubin a free he was throwing, but with 2:32 left the Wolverines took the lead 46–42 on him.
A swing of great momentum came a minute later. Curie senior Jeremy Harrington Jr. blocked Miles Rubin at the post and kept the rebound. On the next possession, Harrington hit a 3-pointer to equalize at 46, and the recently renovated Condors fans at his gym went wild.
Curie’s Carlos Harris (2) was celebrated by his teammates after winning his match against Simeon.
Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times
Harrington, 6-5, and Chicosi Ophoma, senior, 6-7, are both inches behind Simeon’s Rubin twins, 6-10.
“They are a lot taller than us, so we have to fit them,” Harrington said. “We have to play rough and have the umpires call fouls. They foul us, we foul them and just play basketball.”
Harrington had 8 points and 10 rebounds while Ofoma scored 7 for Curie. Senior guard Sean Brown scored 11 points.
Curie lost four games last week. It was a difficult stretch for the Condors, who had several players suspended after their game against Proviso East ended prematurely.
“I am happy that my children know how to deal with adversity,” said Oliver. “Basketball is supposed to be an outlet for them. We had to put it in the past.”
Simeon turned the ball over 20 times and rebounded 32-25.
Simeon manager Robert Smith said there were “too many turnovers and very little being forced.” “It’s not because of pressure or anything like that. We’re just trying to make a home run play instead of keeping it simple.”
Curie was clearly focused on Razor even before the match. Condors sat on the bench for ten minutes. there was no talk. They were staring straight ahead as Simeon warmed up.
“We were trapped,” Harris said. “Normally we play too much. Not today. We wanted this win because people were suspicious of us. But we come to the city to win.” ”
Kenwood beat Phillips 71-44 on Thursday to win Red South/Central and earn the number one seed in the city’s tournament, which starts next week.
“I’m not too worried,” Smith said. “This wasn’t for the championship and I was going to finish second in the conference. I’m sane. We need to clean up some things.”
See Simeon’s final moments on Curie.
