When it comes to crisp, clean basketball, St. Joseph’s latest victory ranked much closer to No. 1,001 than 1.
A day after Gene Pingatore became the first boys coach in Illinois to reach 1,000 wins, his Chargers were outplayed most of the night on Sunday, took their first lead with 25 seconds left in regulation and skipped off the court giddily after Jalen Boyd‘s one-footed 3-pointer at the overtime buzzer gave them a 56-55 overtime victory over DePaul Prep in the Catholic League quarterfinals at Fenwick.
"They’re talking about my 1,001 wins," Pingatore said following Sunday night’s victory. "I said, ‘My 1,001 gray hairs.’ We knew it was going to be tough. We have gotten better. I don’t know if we’ve gotten smarter, but we’ve gotten better."
Left for dead with an 8-10 record, St. Joseph has won six straight since and may have the goods for more.
Pingatore’s three guards, sophomore Marquise Walker, junior Ahmad Muhammad and senior Jason Towers, played key roles in the team’s run to the Class 3A semifinals last season.
Boyd, a 6-foot-4 junior, and his 6-6 twin brother Jordan Boyd give St. Joseph the size and athleticism to compete with most everybody up front.
Jalen Boyd scored 24 points in Sunday’s victory, while Jordan Boyd had six of his 10 in the final two minutes of regulation to force overtime.
"They’ve really come on," Pingatore said. "They’ve been my two best players consistently all year. The other guys have been up and down. We need one more guy consistently up."
St. Joseph’s Gene Pingatore first boys basketball coach in Illinois to reach 1,000 wins Bob Narang
Gene Pingatore tried to escape the throng of students, fans and former players so he could to talk to his team.
It was one battle the boys basketball coach with the most wins in Illinois history would lose.
St. Joseph’s coach earned his 1,000th career victory Saturday, when the Chargers defeated…
Gene Pingatore tried to escape the throng of students, fans and former players so he could to talk to his team.
It was one battle the boys basketball coach with the most wins in Illinois history would lose.
St. Joseph’s coach earned his 1,000th career victory Saturday, when the Chargers defeated…
(Bob Narang)
Wednesday’s CCL semifinals at Fenwick will feature No. 11 Fenwick vs. Loyola at 5:30 p.m. and the Chargers against No. 14 Brother Rice, a 44-41 quarterfinal winner over St. Laurence on Mike Shepski‘s deep 3, at 7:30 p.m.
St. Joseph got hot around this time last year and rode the momentum to a second straight trip to Peoria, but there are two key distinctions.
Last year’s team had 6-11 Nick Rakocevic, who’s now playing 15 minutes per game as a true freshman at USC. That team also had the benefit of playing in 3A; the Chargers are in 4A now because of the IHSA’s so-called "success factor."
"You never know," Pingatore said. "You’ve got to improve. This time of year you’ve got to be good and you’ve got to be lucky. All I know is we’re playing two more games in this tournament."
Big night: Wednesday will be a jam-packed night of high school hoops.
In addition to the two Catholic League semifinals, the Public League playoffs will feature three exciting quarterfinals: Kenwood at No. 2 Young, No. 18 Orr at No. 3 Curie and No. 19 North Lawndale at No. 4 Morgan Park.
No. 5 Simeon beat Farragut SCORE in the first quarterfinal, which was played on Monday — Simeon is hosting a girls’ basketball regional on Wednesday — and could prove beneficial to the Wolverines.
Simeon could have been looking at four games in five days if it played Farragut on Wednesday. The city semifinals and championship game are Friday and Sunday at Chicago State, and Simeon plays No. 8 Evanston in the City-Suburban Showdown on Saturday at Robert Morris’ Convocation Center in Arlington Heights.
Morgan Park will face Stevenson in the City-Suburban, so the Mustangs will face four games in five days s if they reach the city final.
Streak in jeopardy: Perhaps the most remarkable streak in Chicago-area high school basketball, Hillcrest’s 28 consecutive conference championships, is in serious jeopardy.
The Hawks (16-7, 10-1) find themselves a game behind T.F. North (19-3, 11-0) in the South Suburban Blue in the wake of their 81-71 loss to the Meteors on Friday night.
T.F. North still has two tough tasks ahead of it — at T.F. South (15-8, 10-1) on Tuesday night and a home game against Lemont (13-10, 8-2) on Feb. 21.
Undefeated: As they continue to downplay the significance of an undefeated regular season, No. 1 Bolingbrook, No. 6 Fremd and No. 9 Geneva all still have a zero in the loss column.
Bolingbrook has only two regular-season games remaining — Friday at Lincoln-Way East (17-10) and Feb. 21 at home against Sandburg (13-11).
Geneva and Fremd may be more vulnerable.
Geneva will play at St. Charles North (16-7) on Friday before traveling to Quincy (18-4) the following day.
In addition to hosting bitter crosstown rival Palatine (10-17) and playing at Hersey (14-9), Fremd will likely meet No. 13 Prospect in the Mid-Suburban League crossover championship game.
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
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