After a slow start, the Fenwick boys basketball team is putting it all together.
The Friars started the season 3-3 against a tough schedule that wasn’t going to get much easier. But after finding more time to practice as a full unit, coach Rick Malnati’s squad found its groove and the wins kept coming.
After beating Catholic League rival St. Joseph 60-46 on Friday night in Oak Park, the Friars had won 10 of their past 11 games, including nine of those by double digits.
Fenwick is at its best when a complementary player step up to give the standouts a helping hand. Against the Chargers, that player was 6-foot-3 senior Billy Bruce, who had nine points — including five in the fourth quarter — six rebounds and numerous hustle plays.
Bruce pointed to the first three losses — to Benet, Young and Oak Park-River Forest in the span of a week — as catalysts for the recent surge.
“Those early losses really helped us, honestly,” Bruce said. “They’re all games we knew we could’ve won. Just losing those close ones has really fueled the fire, has got us to realize we can do it, we can get to the finish, we just have to put the pieces together and finish these games out.”
The Friars, as usual, were buoyed by sophomore guard DJ Steward (16 points, four assists), junior guard Damari Nixon (10 points, four rebounds, two steals), senior forward AJ Nixon (six points, five assists, four rebounds) and seven points off the bench from senior guard Sam Daniels.
The presence of senior Mike O’Laughlin helped a great deal, especially against the Chargers’ tenacious rebounding. Given that the West Virginia football recruit is the Friars’ unquestioned go-to big man, his 12 points and seven rebounds were imperative against St. Joseph.
O’Laughlin missed a week with an illness after the Proviso West Holiday Tournament and only recently returned to the lineup.
“Ever time I feel like we get Mike to where Mike needs to be, something happens,” Malnati said. “He really played well at the Christmas tournament, then he got (sick). This week he’s back. We need him.”
Fenwick has averaged 26 wins per campaign in Malnati’s four seasons with the Friars. Having O’Laughlin in the lineup could help the Friars reach the state tournament for the second year in a row, but he’ll be a critical piece of the puzzle for the rest of the regular season as well.
Fenwick (13-4, 4-0 CCL Blue) now has another brutal week in store with games against Simeon, St. Rita and Morgan Park.
“We need more practice, but we also have a really tough part of our schedule coming up,” Malnati said. “Nobody else in the state has a stretch like that. And we know it.”
Rich Mayor is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press
