Sophomore Grant Smith and his Lyons Township boys basketball teammates were not among the six teams to play the last day at York’s Jack Tosh Holiday Classic Dec. 31.
However, Smith was as surprised as anyone to be on the court after the championship game.
The 6-foot-6 forward was named to the 20-player all-tournament team among the 32 teams.
The Lions (9-4) finished 2-2 and tied for 21st.
“It’s just a great honor to get it. It just shows as a team how good we’ve been getting and performing,” Smith said.
“I didn’t really think anyone from our team was going to get it because we didn’t do as well as we would have hoped. It was just a nice surprise and something to take pride in.”
LTHS lost its tight finale 56-50 to Rolling Meadows Dec. 30 after beating Lemont 53-45 in a similar-style game Dec. 29. The Lions opened by beating South Elgin 77-27 Dec. 26 and then had a 63-38 nightmarish loss to fourth-place Perspectives Dec. 27.
“We have a lot of guys that are learning as we go and hopefully as we enter the second half of the season the experience that we had will help us get better in January and February,” LTHS coach Tom Sloan said.
“We have good depth and an unselfish group and they play well together. Flip one or two plays (with Rolling Meadows) and they’re chasing us instead of us chasing them.”
Smith had team highs of 68 points and eight three-pointers at the Tosh tournament with 25 points against Perspectives and 15 or 14 points the other three games. Smith also collected 20 rebounds and eight steals.
Other standouts included seniors Owen Carroll (24 points, 9 rebounds, 12 assists) and Tommy Blyth (14 points, 20 rebounds, 8 assists) and juniors Timmy Sloan (29 points, 14 rebounds, 9 assists, 8 steals) and Nate Woods (43 points with 6 threes, 16 rebounds).
The season began with Carroll and Sloan the lone returnees with significant varsity experience.
Smith and Woods often have been significant scorers and the reserve unit of seniors Dylan Holcer and Tommy Sloan and juniors Blake Ragsdale and Byron Walton continues to progress. Walton was injured during the Lemont victory.
“I knew coming in we were going to have a lot of weapons,” Timmy Sloan said.
“We’ve just got to be tougher, take care of the ball, box out, rebound play defense. We’re getting good looks every (offensive) possession. When we’re hitting shots, we’re a tough team to beat.”
Smith and Woods also complemented each other on last year’s sophomore team that won the West Suburban Conference Silver Division and lost only twice.
Smith credits older brother and Yale football player Graham with helping his hoops and older sister Gwen, a senior standout on the girls basketball team who will play at Gannon University (Erie, Pa.).
“I think it’s a two-way street because we’re always outside (in the driveway). We’re always shooting together, playing each other,” Smith said. “She’s a big reason I’m (all-tournament).”
Still, the Lions struggled at times hitting shots, especially in trailing Perspectives 36-9 at halftime. But they progressed the last two games in finding offensive success anyway to complement usually tough defense.
Even with Smith going to the bench with three fouls against Lemont, the Lions went from trailing 29-25 to leading 38-36 entering the fourth quarter.
Blyth scored three baskets during one flurry of 10 points on five possessions.
“We just came out with a lot of energy in the second half and just wanted it more and got easy buckets,” Blyth said.
With 4:13 left, Smith incorrectly was called for a fourth foul as a Lemont free throw was tying the game 40-40.
“I was like ‘What?’ because I was help defense,” Smith said.
Coach Sloan was able to get the foul charged to Blyth, who confirmed he committed the foul. Smith stayed in the game and his basket, Carroll’s three, and Smith’s three-point play from Carroll’s pass opened a 48-40 lead with 2:48 left.
“I knew (the foul) was on Tommy and then I heard the announcement,” Sloan said. “Fortunately, the officials were able to correct it before play got going and they couldn’t reverse it.”
LTHS led Rolling Meadows 25-19 at halftime but the Mustangs hit 6 of 12 threes after going 1 for 12 in the first half. Their last three answered Carroll’s steal and layup that closed the deficit to 48-46 with 2:24 left.
“They deserved to win. They made enough plays,” Sloan said. “They made a couple of more plays and in close games, that’s what makes the difference.”
