After a spectacular performance Wednesday night, Rich Township’s Jamson Coulter was a young man of few words. But that didn’t stop star teammate Al Brooks Jr. from offering rave reviews.
Coulter was the glue that held the Raptors together when they trailed Marist by as much as 15 points in the second quarter. He was also a major contributor after Brooks fouled out in the fourth.
“Jamson, that’s a dog, man,” Brooks said. “He just took over completely. He played great defense. He was rebounding. He was aggressive. He was attacking the rim. He was hitting free throws.
“He was doing everything we could ask him for — he did it all.”
The host Raptors had to do a lot after trailing most of the game but came up with an 86-85 overtime win over the RedHawks in a Class 4A Rich Township Sectional semifinal in Richton Park.
Coulter finished with 24 points, including nine in the final 3:59 of regulation and four minutes of OT. Brooks tallied 20 points and nine rebounds for Rich Township (23-8), while Jayden Williams scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and OT. Nyshawn Turner added 13 points.
Turner made the winning free throw with four seconds left in OT for the Raptors, who will play defending state champion Homewood-Flossmoor (30-3) at 6:30 p.m. Friday for the sectional title.
While Kavon Ammons helped extend the game for the Raptors with two quick steals in the closing minute of regulation, Coulter raised his play in the end to send the Raptors into the Sweet 16.
“When Al went out, we had to still get the job done,” Coulter said. “We had to pull it together.
“We needed people to step up.”
Rokas Zilys and Adoni Vassilakis did the same with 16 points apiece for Marist (31-3). TJ Tate followed with 14, Karson Thomas had 12, Stephen Brown added 11 and Marquis Vance had 10.
The 6-foot-2 Coulter, meanwhile, came through when things were going wrong for the Raptors. He scored 12 points in the first half to keep his team afloat despite facing a 47-36 halftime deficit.
“The score really didn’t matter at the time,” Coulter said. “We all had to show up and do what we needed to do to get the ‘W.’’’
Coulter was relatively quiet in the third with two points, but Brooks made plenty of noise by scoring 10 points in that quarter. Rich Township still trailed 65-55.
Brooks fouled out with 3:40 left in regulation and Marist ahead by five. The RedHawks led 75-70 with a mere 1:12 left in regulation before Ammons went on his streak of consecutive steals.
Coulter then hit the tying free throw with two seconds left.
“For sure, everything is going to be a little rocky at first,” Brooks said. “But we’re good, man. We deserve this. We put in a lot of work, maybe more work than any team in Chicago or the suburbs.
“We’re working. That’s all I have to say.”
The Raptors, indeed, might have more losses than they would like at this point, but they also have quality wins over H-F and Kenwood. Rich Township beat H-F 81-67 on Jan. 29 at the Big Dipper.
Brooks also appeared to be seconds away from having his high school career end on the bench, but a win like this gives him confidence that the Raptors can go even deeper in the playoffs.
And with someone like Coulter keeping things together, the hard work seems to be paying off.
“He means the world to us,” Williams said of Coulter. “He’s one of the best scorers in Chicago. We need him to be aggressive so everyone else can score their points.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
