PONTIAC, Ill.—The first month of the season was challenging for Simeon and new coach Tim Flowers. The Wolverines limped into the 92nd Pontiac Holiday Tournament unranked and with a losing record.
“As a former player and now as a coach, I know there is no better place to try and figure out who you are than at Pontiac,” Flowers said.
Simeon has won 16 titles in 27 appearances at Pontiac. Two of those championships were with Flowers, who was Derrick Rose’s running mate. The school’s walls are filled with pictures of Rose and Jabari Parker. The Wolverines have always felt at home in this small town 94 miles south of their school.
And sure enough, Simeon’s Pontiac magic returned in the final minutes on Thursday against Plainfield North. A series of big plays propelled Flowers’ young team to a 50-47 victory in the first round.
The Tigers (7-7) led 45-42 with less than three minutes left.
Simeon junior Lorenzo Shields scored on a steal and layup to cut Plainfield North to one. The Tigers responded with a basket. Then on the Wolverines’ next possession Shields forgot about the new shot clock and heaved a last-minute three. It went in and tied the score at 47.
Highly-regarded sophomore Andre Tyler stepped into the spotlight at that point. His steal and dunk with 1:21 left put Simeon ahead 49-47 and his block with 15 seconds left helped seal the win.
“I knew at that moment in time I had to leave it all out on the floor,” Tyler said. “[Plainfield North senior Evan Czarnik] took it up very softly so I knew I could get to it.”
Tyler had nine points and nine rebounds. Shields, Rashad McKinnie and senior Jashon Liggett each scored 11 points for the Wolverines (5-6).
“We have a very young team,” Flowers said. “For us it is just about finding wins. We will continue to grow. It’s Simeon basketball. We don’t want to be our best at the beginning of the year. We want to get better throughout the season. Hopefully by the time the city and state playoffs come around we are playing our best basketball.”
Simeon starts two sophomores and two juniors.
“Our guys handled the Simeon thing pretty well,” Plainfield North coach Bob Krahulik said. “They didn’t play the name on the jersey. They were never intimidated. I guess until the end. We’ve been in every game all year and we are finding ways to lose at the end.”
Fleming led the Tigers with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
“He does that every game,” Krahulik said. “He’s averaging 22 and 12. He’s an animal on the boards. He had an off shooting game and was still 7 for 15.”
Simeon will face Bloom in the quarterfinals on Friday.
“This could potentially be a momentum starter for us but you never know,” Flowers said. “My hope is we can figure out we can be a really good defensive team and that carries on. We are going to take some more bumps but we just want to keep getting better.”
