Homewood-Flossmoor’s Darrius Hawkins Jr. was thrown into the fire last season, facing challenge after challenge as a freshman point guard running the show for a talented, ranked team.
Hawkins passed the test. And Mount Carmel’s Ron Johnson is doing the same this year, but some games are learning experiences. That was the case on Monday as Hawkins and the Vikings attacked Johnson and Mount Carmel’s inexperienced backcourt with pace and pressure on the way to an 80-63 win in the final game of MLK “The Dream Continues” Classic in Flossmoor.
“We just had to take advantage of the matchup,” Hawkins said. “We have a lot of small scrappy guards and we wanted to get on them and cause a lot of ruckus, a lot of havoc. Pressure and pace is our identity.”
Hawkins scored 20 points. Junior Danny Ruffin led the defensive charge and finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Senior Ethan Jackson led the No. 12 Vikings (17-2) with 23 points.
“Any time you play a team that is well-coached and disciplined, you have to attack where they are uncomfortable,” H-F coach Brandin Brown said. “We really tried to do that early on. We didn’t know what to expect. They are so well-coached [that] even if we pressured them, we expected them to do well. But it worked out for us tonight.”
No. 14 Mount Carmel (15-6) had 14 turnovers. Johnson, however, is one of the area’s elite freshmen and didn’t wilt under the pressure. He found his footing in the second quarter and finished with 18 points.
“You should see Johnson in the huddle,” Caravan coach Phil Segroves said. “He has great insight. To see that from a 15-year-old freshman is incredible. I’m proud of the way he played. But [H-F’s] speed is something we haven’t seen before, and it showed.”
The Vikings jumped out to a 25-8 lead in the second quarter and led by 32 late in the third. The Caravan kept coming, however, and Johnson’s three-point play with 3:20 left cut the deficit to 65-51.
“We are never going to quit,” Segroves said. “Kudos to them. You can see it on film, but you can’t simulate that [speed] in practice.”
Junior guard Logan Wessel had 16 points and six rebounds for the Caravan. Freshman guard Da’Kylen Heard added nine points, six rebounds and four blocks.
Homewood-Flossmoor is still im-proving after a strong start. Marvin Douglas, a 6-4 senior wing who’s becoming a factor in the post, had 12 points and eight rebounds. Guard Samuel Carter (four points, four rebounds) and guard Jayden McDonald (three points, four rebounds) made significant contributions off the bench after playing key roles when Ruffin and Hawkins missed a couple of games with injuries.
“It was terrible sitting out and watching us lose to Thornton [earlier this month],” Ruffin said. “But it was good to see some guys step in and play well, and that will help us.”
