Chicago Public, Catholic League teams square off in first Basketball Challenge
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Chicago Public League and Chicago Catholic League squared off Wednesday for the first annual Basketball Challenge.
Although high school basketball players are in the middle of their season, some coaches and players looked at this competition like its the Big Ten. CBS 2's Shardaa Gray went to see the action at St. Rita Cascia High School.
The Chicago Public League said the event was meant to highlight some of the best athletes across the city. The rivalry between the Chicago Public League and the Chicago Catholic League has a lot of history.
They put their hearts and souls on the court. Leo Catholic High School and Carver Military Academy were the first to play in the inaugural Basketball Challenge.
"It's a rivalry in Chicago within Chicago with the Catholic League and Public League," said Delroy Folkes, Carver's athletic coordinator.
That rivalry could be seen on the court. Words were exchanged as the teams went through the traditional post-game handshake.
The city Basketball Challenge featured six boys varsity basketball games this year with the hopes of expanding to more teams next year.
"To have an event like this, it ultimately creates a playoff kind of atmosphere, although we're still pretty much in the middle of the season, but it creates that playoff atmosphere," said Folkes.
Leo High School junior Stephen Barze said, "It energizes me being able to compete and play basketball."
Although both teams worked hard and played hard, for Carver basketball players, Wednesday's game was bittersweet. The team's head coach, Johnail Evans, suddenly died over the weekend at age 61.
"At first, it was a challenge seeing if we decided we wanted to play after what had happened to us," said Carver senior Bryan Recendez.
Evans had been a coach for 40 years and coached at Carver for more than 20 years.
"Everybody missed his calls and his voice while we're playing on the court," Recendez said. "I guess we just missed that motivation he gave us."
"All of a sudden in the middle of the season, to lose your coach and have to press on and go ahead and complete the season and compete, it's got to be a real psychologically difficult thing to do," said Leo Catholic High School President Dan McGrath. "So we have the utmost respect for the young men of Carver."
Ultimately, Carver lost by eight points, but for the team's acting head coach, Antonio Wiltz, they're just glad they were able to play.
"Playing the first game in this event is kind of special because it gives us the chance to be the first team to step on the court," Wiltz said.