John Taylor transferred from Gary Lew Wallace to North Lawndale over the summer. He was the perfect player to lead coach Lewis Thorpe’s team, as the Phoenix moved from the Chicago Prep into the talented Red-Northwest section of the Public League.
As soon as Taylor arrived, Thorpe began touting him as the best player on the team. Taylor has the game and attitude to be a major star in the city.
The problem was, he didn’t have the grades.
So Taylor sat out the first semester. The Phoenix played well, jumping into the Super 25 rankings just before the holiday tournaments began. Those in the know said that North Lawndale was a sleeping giant, just waiting to make a splash when Taylor returned.
That’s exactly what happened Saturday at Young. Taylor scored 16 points, all in the second half, to lead No. 10 North Lawndale (14-2, 4-0 Red-Northwest) to a 68-67 upset of No. 3 Young.
‘‘Everybody was talking about [Young],’’ Taylor said. ‘‘They’re not that good. We’ve played better teams than them. We were just lazy on defense in the second half.’’
Young guard AJ Rompza had a shot to win it for the Dolphins (13-3, 3-1 Red-Northwest) with two seconds to play, but his three-point attempt was blocked by North Lawndale guard Donte Dangerfield.
Young led through the first three quarters, breaking out to leads of 14 and 11 points at various times.
“That is a credit to the kids,” Thorpe said. “They refused to give up. That’s exactly the kind of perseverance we are trying to teach them.”
The Phoenix tightened things up with an 11-2 run to close the third quarter and took the lead for the first time with 2:50 to play in the game on a rebound and basket by junior Jonathon Mills (17 points, 15 rebounds).
“We just wanted it more than they did,” Mills said. “I thought I’d be able to control the boards against them. That’s my job on this team.”
North Lawndale led 67-64 with 42 seconds to play, but went just 1-for-6 from the free-throw line from then on, giving the Dolphins hope when Marcus Jordan (23 points, eight rebounds) drained a three with 34 seconds left to cut the lead to one.
“A lot was going on in my mind when I was at the free throw line at the end,” Taylor said. “Coach really wanted this game.”
Chris Colvin (11 points) was the only other Young player to score double-digits. Stanford Brown scored four and grabbed seven rebounds.
Sophomore Jermaine Winfield had 12 points for the Phoenix. Glen Wallace, another player who sat out the first semester, and Thristian Crittle each added eight points.
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