Riverside-Brookfield hosted the Chicago Summer Challenge over the weekend that pitted some of the premier AAU basketball teams from around the country against each other. The Illinois Woves-Mullins (led by Purdue commit Kendall Stephens) and Illinois Wolves-Kleinschmidt were co-champions in the 17U Silver Division bracket, while Team Rose captured the 16U title. Kyle Oden of Hillcrest led Illinois Crush to an overtime victory over Chi-Town Diablos-Black to garner the 15U championship.
The tournament drew a plethora of Division I college coaches, including John Groce (Illinois), Bruce Weber (Kansas State), Bill Carmody (Northwestern), Bryce Drew (Valparaiso), John Beilein (Michigan), Matt Painter (Purdue) and Larry Eustachy (Colorado).
Earlier this summer, RB basketball coach Tom McCloskey and his staff also hosted the 10th Annual Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout, which featured Simeon star Jabari Parker, the No. 1 high school basketball player in the nation. Led by Sterling Brown’s 30 points, Proviso East nipped Simeon (playing without Parker) 72-69 in the championship game of that highly attended event, run by the RB coaches with the help of former Bulldogs players.
Regarding RB basketball, returning varsity stars Damonta Henry, Miki Ljuboja, Eric Loury and Liam Lesniak are playing for Illinois Old School this summer. Henry, the premier guard in the Metro Suburban Conference, received his first full scholarship offer in June from Division II University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D.
