Game Notes And Photos: Niles North Outruns Maine East

Coach Scott Olson cites sophomores' love of hoops as exceptional.

Covered my first full boys basketball game in a bit Friday, choosing it for several reasons. Maine East is on the rise under first-year head coach Sergio Muro, entering Friday’s game at 10-6 and 2-2 in the CSL North.

Niles North has a strong sophomore class of a championship-caliber. I saw the Vikings play at Highland Park last year — I’m an employee at HPHS — and got to see how much offensive firepower they had in the tank. It’s a new season, but that trait holds true for this year’s Vikings. They can go on offense.

Seeing as how I’m very familiar with sophomore guard Reid Olson, a former student of mine at McCracken Middle School in Skokie where I was a paraprofessional, Friday’s game seemed like a no-brainer choice.

Olson came out hot, sinking 8 3-pointers and scoring a game-high 27 points. Yaris Irby contributed 16 points. For Maine East, Samy Salem and Derryl Gaddi, both seniors, notched 15 points apiece. Jalan Alphonse added 10.

Niles North was coming off a frustrating cross-division loss to Evanston, 79-53 on Tuesday. Entering at 13-4 and unbeaten in the CSL North, Reid Olson said Wednesday’s practice was probably the team’s best of the year.

“We knew we had to come back right away and just try to push the pace, move the ball faster, get more guys involved. We had a lot of 1-pass or no-pass possessions and we had to fix that…we came out shooting the ball well.”

The Vikings grabbed a 71-56 win. Here’s how they did it:

1st Quarter 

-Niles North starts 4 sophomores, Reid Olson, Yaris Irby, Hunter Gawron and Kaiden Chatham.

-Chatham, Gawron and Olson each score as Niles North shoots out to a 7-0 lead.

-Maine East scores the next 8 points, forcing 4 turnovers in rapid succession to race back.

-Olson hit his third 3-pointer of the first quarter for a 13-9 Vikings advantage and 6-6 junior Aiden Ashley capped the scoring with a bucket as NN led 15-9 after a quarter.

“We knew we had to come back right away and just try to push the pace, move the ball faster, get more guys involved,” Olson said. “We had a lot of 1-pass or no-pass possessions and we had to fix that…we came out shooting the ball well.”