The last time the Fenwick and Oak Park boys basketball teams met the game went into overtime and the Huskies prevailed 56-48 in front of their home crowd. The two rivals are likely to meet again tonight (Wednesday, March 3, 7:30 p.m.) in a Class 4A regional semifinal match-up, but the game won’t be played anywhere near the Oak Park area.
Fans will have to trek down to Curie High School, 4959 S. Archer Ave. in Chicago, to see the cross-town rivals go head-to-head, assuming Fenwick downed Juarez (6-24) in the opening round of the regional on Tuesday night (after deadline).
“The guys have been pumped up for this game all year,” said Oak Park head coach Matt Maloney, whose Huskies (21-5, 9-3 West Sub Silver) closed out the regular season with a 72-56 pummeling of Glenbard West on Friday. “They didn’t get to play Fenwick during the regular season so their excited about this game.”
Despite his team having the better record, Maloney said it’s anyone’s ballgame when these two teams meet.
“Records go out the window when we play each other and emotions run high. This will be like any other game we’ve played against Fenwick,” he said. “The best thing we can do is keep our focus and do what we are capable of doing.”
The Friars, who struggled for most of the season, managed to pull out a winning regular season record by edging St. Ignatius 44-39 in front of a sellout crowd in Chicago on Friday night. Fenwick entered the playoffs 13-11 overall.
“Physically, I think we match up well with Oak Park,” said Fenwick head coach John Quinn. “They are more offensively polished than we are – with their big guys being able to shoot threes, but we have the ability to match that if we’re playing like we did to close out the regular season. We’ll need someone to step up though in order to offset their depth.”
The Huskies will need to keep close tabs on all-Catholic League player Dylan Barnett, who scored 11 points in the win over St. Ignatius. Big men Dave Suwada and Jeff Dirkin should make for an entertaining night in the post. Suwada scored 10 points for the Friars in last season’s game, while Dirkin had 11.
But other weapons in Oak Park’s arsenal will need to be accounted for if the Friars have any chance of advancing on to the regional championship. Jeff Stanciel-Wynn led the charge for Oak Park past Glenbard West with 18 points. The senior has come on as a major scoring threat lately, averaging 17 points in the final three games of the regular season.
Whoever emerges from the semifinal will either take on Curie or Proviso West in the regional title game on Friday (7:30 p.m.). The Huskies split two games against conference foe Proviso West this season.
“It doesn’t really matter what comes after the semifinal. Both of those teams are similar in style and play,” said Maloney. “Besides, getting past Fenwick is the focus right now.”