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By Todd Thomas

North Lawndale College Prep’s basketball season began last week, and the Phoenix were impressive, defeating four teams, including Waukegan to take first place at the Grant Thanksgiving Tournament.

Last year the team went 20-9, and they’d like to match that total, but the task will not be easy after the graduation of several key seniors including, Stephen Ross, Martrell Barnes, and Carlos Hines. However, the Phoenix usually don’t rely on one player to carry the load, and the mantra has always been teamwork and aggressive defense by committee. Head coach Lewis Thorpe thinks this year’s squad has embraced the philosophy.

“They have bought into our system, and they believe in our coaching staff. That alone is going to win games,” Thorpe said.

Several of the team’s key players participated in football this fall and David Forrest, Rayion Williams, Jalen Thorpe, and Marquese Becton were instrumental in helping improve the team’s performance from the previous season when they were winless, to a respectable 7-2 record.

Some questioned the wisdom of risking injury, and sacrificing preparation time for the basketball season by playing football, however, the Phoenix were fortunate to remain relatively unscathed. The athletes also said they learned valuable lessons from their experience on the football field.

“I’m happy I played football. It made me tougher and it increased my sports IQ,” said senior point guard Rayion Williams, who played quarterback on the football team. “Playing quarterback improved my timing and decision making as far as knowing when to make the right passes, and staying poised.”

David Forrest was also busy on the football field, playing linebacker and wide receiver. He admits to being a little fatigued, but said he’s feeling good, and can’t wait for the basketball season to begin.

“My body feels great. I’m a little tired, but being a student/athlete this is the type of thing you’ve got to go through to succeed. It just makes me a stronger person mentally and physically, so I feel good. I’m just ready for the season to begin,” Forrest said.

But coach Thorpe does express some concern that the toll football takes on the body might affect the team’s performance early in the season.

“I expect us to compete, but I’m a little concerned with the early games because we have so many guys who are dinged up from playing football. I don’t think right now they’re in the shape they need to be to compete in the Red-West,” Thorpe said.

One player that did not play football, is Rashaun Hill. The senior guard comes to the Phoenix by way of a transfer from Carver High School. He said he’s ready to contribute, and make up for lost time after sitting out his junior season.

“I’ve been playing basketball almost everyday since I was in fifth grade so it was hard not putting on a basketball uniform for a whole year,” he said. “I’m not nervous, but I’m a little edgy because I sat out my junior year. But when the season starts I think I’m going to be ready, Hill said.

He said that NLCP’s commitment to academic success factored into his decision to transfer, as well as the basketball team’s will to win.

“They put academics in front of athletics, and I also see that the team really wants to succeed. They’re tough and they’re really close, so I just gave it a chance and came over to the Red-West.”

The competition will be stiff in the conference, as it is every year for North Lawndale, and the team is relatively young, although not inexperienced, having played summer league ball together.

Emerging juniors will play a big role, and challenge the seniors for playing time, while the seniors try to make their final season memorable.

Posting a winning record, and making a strong post-season run is the goal, but Williams said he’ll judge the success of the campaign on more than wins and losses.

“If we start as a brotherhood and finish as a brotherhood – that’s an accomplishment and a bond that can never be broken. It’s not just about winning games, it’s about being a family – having each others back and sticking with each other, Williams said.

But the winning legacy forged by players like the late Jonathan Mills, Jermaine Winfield and “Z” Jones is always present on the NLCP campus. They won city and state titles in the past, and senior forward Marquese Becton, who traveled downstate with them when he was a kid, said he wants to have the same experience himself.

“I went downstate with them and rode the team bus, stayed at the hotel, and was in the locker room with them,” Becton said. “I look up to those dudes, they were role models to me, and I want to win city and state just like I watched them win city and state titles.”

The event was a success with the help of volunteers from the M.W. Celestial Grand Lodge, where M.W. stands for Most Worshipful, the I.A.T.I.A. Tabernacle Grand Chapter of the Order of Eastern Stars, where I.A.T.I.A stands for I Am that I Am (the female counterparts of the Masons), and partnering with Faith Community Baptist church with Deacon Reginald Sanders, and Spirit of Truth with Paster Rev Robert Patterson, along with other church and community volunteers.

The event was well attended by youth and community on the streetway of St. Louis and Flournoy. Grandmaster Black commented, “the community came out to help cleanup and setup for the event. In an area, sometimes populated by drug dealing and gangs, it was peaceful and good to see generations, young  and old together enjoying the outside and each other without the cloud of gangs and drug dealing hovering in their site.

The group has been sponsoring this event for eight years with the help of people like former Ald Chandler and now Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. In addition to the book bags, food was provided which included hot dogs, ice cream, chips, and pop. There was also a clothing giveaway and HIV screening inside Faith Community Baptist Church.

The M.W. Celestial Grand Lodge is located at 616 S. Saint Louis Ave, Faith Community Baptist Church is located at 3456 W. Flournoy St., and Spirit of Truth Baptist Church is located at 3447 W. Harrison St. For more information contact Grandmaster Willie Black at 708-752-5785.