Boys basketball
Williams comes up big as host H-F romps at the Charity Stripe Shootout
Trace Williams truly does a little bit of everything for Homewood-Flossmoor.
On most occasions, the contributions of the senior guard aren’t reflected in the scorebook, but that wasn’t the case Saturday against Westinghouse.
The 6-foot-3 Williams scored 16 points, grabbed five rebounds and added three assists to help host H-F to a 102-75 victory in the Charity Stripe Shootout.
Senior forward Issac Stanback led H-F (18-5) with 22 points and junior guard Josiah Palmer picked up 20 off the bench.
Williams isn’t concerned about personal stats.
“I used to be just a scorer,” he said. “I’ve developed a quality, all-around game. I like to help us win any way I can.”
Generally speaking, Williams is H-F’s sixth man, but he started for a second straight game.
During Friday’s 74-57 win over Lockport, H-F coach Marc Condotti rewarded Williams with a start on senior night. He ended up with 11 points.
Senior guard Damen Trice sat out Saturday with a heel injury suffered against Lockport, opening the door for Williams to start again.
Condotti appreciates what Williams brings to the team.
“He doesn’t turn the ball over, he doesn’t take bad shots and he doesn’t make many mistakes,” Condotti said. “His role off the bench is so important. He can handle zone or the press. He’s a solid player.”
Palmer hasn’t received much playing time, either, mostly because he plays the same position as Williams.
With Williams starting, though, Palmer was one of the first players off the bench Saturday.
Palmer scored 12 points in the third quarter, allowing the Vikings to expand a 42-30 halftime lead to 72-49 entering the fourth.
Williams wasn’t surprised by Palmer’s scoring output.
“He does it all the time in practice,” Williams said. “We call him ‘Joe Buckets.’ ”
Palmer, who shot 6-for-8 from the floor and 6-for-7 from the free-throw line, said “it was just one of those days.”
“I was in the zone and kept playing hard,” he said. “I tried to provide for my team and help on defense. I felt good so I just kept on shooting.”
Eleven players scored for H-F, which shot 57 percent (34-for-59) from the floor and 82 percent from the free-throw line.
“We took a lot of high-percentage shots,” Condotti said. “I liked the way we worked the ball around and were patient when we needed to be.”
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