Amarion Johnson, Tinley Park top Oak Forest

Lengthy and robust, Amarion Johnson is a shot-blocking machine for Tinley Park.

Johnson’s presence makes opponents suppose twice about attempting to take the ball to the basket. And the 6-foot-8 senior ahead places his all into his defensive recreation.

“It’s simply having the center to make completely different performs and do various things to assist the crew win,” mentioned Johnson, a four-year varsity participant. “I attempt to assist my crew repair little errors.

“If I see any person get beat, I attempt to slide over and assist them out. I take quite a lot of satisfaction in protection. I like making defensive performs and hustle performs.”

Johnson confirmed how impactful he may be on each ends of the courtroom Tuesday.

He scored 11 factors, pulled down seven rebounds and blocked six photographs to guide the host Titans to a 57-44 South Suburban Blue victory over district rival Oak Forest.

Nolan Maciejewski scored 18 factors to tempo Tinley Park (6-9, 3-1), which bounced again after a disappointing 0-4 displaying eventually week’s Huge Dipper Event. Dashawn Allen added 13 factors and Bernard McHerron had six factors and 15 rebounds.

Deshawn Nolan led Oak Forest (6-8, 1-3) with 16 factors. Amari Brownlee completed with 11 factors, whereas Nicholas Segreti chipped in with seven factors and 5 rebounds.

The Titans dominated within the lane, with Johnson main the way in which. Johnson mentioned his huge varsity expertise has turned him into a better, higher participant.

“It’s helped me quite a bit,” Johnson mentioned. “Enjoying as a freshman, me and coach (D.J.) Brown established our relationship. He is aware of what I can do. I do know what he desires me to do. Being a captain, I do know what he desires in that position.

“We simply assist one another out.”

Brown sees the intimidation issue Johnson supplies, particularly after he swats a shot or two again in an opponent’s face.

“Even simply his presence alone makes that distinction,” Brown mentioned of Johnson. “He alters photographs simply being there. Defensively, we all know what we’re going to get out of him.

“Offensively, we’ve talked to him about asserting himself extra. I feel he did that, and he had a robust offensive recreation.”

Certainly, Johnson was aggressive on offense early within the recreation. He scored seven factors within the first half because the Titans took a 21-16 halftime lead.

“I’m attempting to attain extra and get my teammates open,” Johnson mentioned. “I do know once they get the ball to me, all of the defenders are going to take a look at me, so I attempt to kick it out to open shooters. They knock down photographs.”

Allen took over the sport down the stretch, scoring 10 factors within the fourth quarter because the Titans pulled away.

“(Brown) says I’m arguably essentially the most athletic man on the crew, so I suppose that simply kicked in for me,” Allen mentioned. “I simply had to purchase into it.

“We had been enjoying a rival, so I suppose we simply performed tougher.”

Oak Forest is inexperienced and small. That has been a troublesome mixture these days.

“We’ve been struggling all 12 months with rebounding,” Oak Forest first-year coach Tyshaun Cobbs mentioned. “(Johnson) and (McHerron) banged us up fairly good and we had no reply for it. We’ve acquired to do a greater job with regards to boxing out.

“We tip our cap to them, and going ahead, we’ve acquired work to do.”

The Titans, in the meantime, hope the large win is the beginning of higher issues in 2023. Johnson plans to prepared the ground whereas hoping to draw extra consideration from faculty recruiters.

“I’m getting some curiosity,” Johnson mentioned. “I positively need to play in faculty. That’s my large motivation.”

Steve Millar is a contract reporter for the Day by day Southtown.