Junior guard Jack Dempsey has learned how to adapt on the fly for Oak Lawn.
With his normally clean and fundamentally sound outside shot becoming less reliable, Dempsey decided to discover an alternate means of success as far as helping out his team.
“Usually, I shoot the ball pretty well, like 45% last year on 3-pointers,” Dempsey said, pointing to one specific statistical area. “This year, I’ve been struggling, and part of it’s mental.
“Since I’m not shooting how I like, I feel like I have to find other ways to contribute to our team like rebounding or taking charges and doing everything else.”
Dempsey, however, let it fly Tuesday night, scoring 18 points and seeing a return to his shooting form in the Spartans’ 59-57 win over Hillcrest in a South Suburban Conference crossover game.
Senior guard Donte Montgomery matched Dempsey with 18 points for Oak Lawn (6-1, 2-0 SSC Red). Senior guard Jovi Ratliff scored 17 of his 25 points in the second half for Hillcrest (3-3, 1-1 SSC Blue).
Ratliff’s younger brother Jamir, a junior guard, added 12 points. In the third quarter, the Ratliff brothers sparked a 20-6 run for the Hawks that erased the Spartans’ 12-point halftime lead.
Montgomery, though, made four 3-pointers in scoring 12 points in the first half. He knocked down his first 3-pointer and didn’t look back, adding seven rebounds, three rebounds and two steals.
The chemistry of Dempsey and Montgomery is about a decade in the making, with the two having played together since fifth grade.
”I’ve known him for a while and we play off each other,” Montgomery said. “We know each other’s spots. He’s a great playmaker and great rebounder. He can really do everything on the court.
“He’s not the biggest guy on the floor, but he’s very strong.”
As well as he shot the ball, Dempsey’s late hustle and intangible plays won the game.
He rebounded his own missed free throw with 4 seconds left and ran down another missed free throw as time expired to prevent a last-second shot by Hillcrest.
“We practiced free-throw shooting, and obviously us not hitting them allowed them back into the game,” he said. Good teams find a way to win, and that’s what we ended up doing.
“We have to learn from our mistakes.”
A natural left-handed shooter, Dempsey is a 6-foot-3 combo guard who plays either on or off the ball. It’s his second full season as a starter and third year on the varsity.
His shooting prowess is the foundation that makes the rest of his game sing.
Oak Lawn coach Jason Rhodes disputes the notion that Dempsey’s shot has suffered in the early part of this season.
“I think he’s having to take tougher shots because people know who he is now,” Rhodes said. “He’s seeing better defenders with less air space.
“What’s good is that other aspects have flourished. He’s finishing better around the basket, and he has a few more things in his bag that he can go to around the rim.”
Dempsey, a standout pitcher and outfielder in baseball, shares a name with the iconic heavyweight boxer. That was the idea of his mother, Erin.
Significantly, he also inherited his mother’s skill, power and toughness on the court. His father George also played basketball at Oak Lawn.
His mother, Erin Haubenreiser, holds the girls basketball program’s record for rebounds in a game with 26 and for career with 948.
His parents coached him when he first began playing basketball.
“I learned a lot from them,” he said. “Now, I see it in the way the coaches trust me to do more out there on the court. My parents taught me the game, and obviously I love shooting.
“I also like distributing it to my teammates more and getting everyone involved in the different aspects of the game.”
Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
