Boys Basketball
Junior forward scores
22 points as Oak Forest rolls past Lemont
Oak Forest junior Jayson Kent had a good idea in warmups his shot was going to fall Friday night against Lemont.
“I was feeling it,” Kent said. “I had no hesitation when I got the ball. I knew I was going to go off.”
Kent, a 6-foot-4 forward, scored a team-high 22 points to lead surging Oak Forest to a 58-33 South Suburban Blue win.
The Bengals (20-4, 9-2) are two games behind undefeated Hillcrest (11-0) in conference with two games to play.
Kent hit seven of his first eight shots, including three 3-pointers that helped the Bengals to a 30-10 lead in the second quarter.
Robbie Avila, a 6-6 freshman forward, added 14 points and 12 rebounds for Oak Forest.
Senior forward Nate Ferguson, a Drake recruit, led Lemont (12-13, 6-4) with 12 points.
Kent’s shooting prowess isn’t a surprise. He’s converting 43 percent from the 3-point line and 85 percent from the free-throw line.
“Jayson, in my mind, is one of the best shooters in the area,” Oak Forest coach Matt Manzke said. “There’s a reason he’s that good of a shooter. He works hard.”
That’s an understatement.
According to Kent, he wakes up each morning at 5:30 a.m. and hits the Oak Forest gym from 6:15 to 7:15 a.m.
“I take about 400 shots a day,” Kent said. “If I let up, I’m to let my team down and my shot will stop falling.”
Manzke verified Kent’s dedication.
“He’s in the gym seven days a week,” Manzke said. “He’s the real deal.”
So are the Bengals, who put on a passing and shooting clinic that Lemont couldn’t stop.
Oak Forest shot 55 percent (19-for-34) from the floor compared to Lemont’s 28 percent (11-for-38).
Senior guards Adrian Gonzalez and Ethan Balinao and junior forward Juan Avila — Robbie’s brother — round out an unselfish starting lineup for the Bengals.
“They find the open guy,” Manzke said. “There are no egos. That’s why we’re successful.”
Robbie Avila, who scored nine points in the first quarter as the Bengals raced to a 17-4 lead, has adapted well to varsity competition despite being a year removed from junior high. He’s averaging 13.6 points.
He also credited Manzke with a useful tip.
“Coach told me to use the shot fake,” Avila said. “It’s really been working. The players are bigger physically so I have to be smarter.”
Lemont coach Rick Runaas gave Oak Forest its due.
“We ran into a buzz saw,” he said. “They looked like a team playing for something greater. We were out of it early.”
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