Mufid Hijaz opened his competitive basketball career in eighth grade at Conrady Junior High.
He didn’t play much.
He entered Stagg and made the freshman B team, then didn’t play much as a sophomore on the JV team and didn’t play much as a junior on the varsity.
But here he is as a senior, and he’s a starter for the Chargers.
“Starting on varsity was a goal when I was a freshman,” Hijaz said. “It’s a dream come true.”
The 5-foot-10 guard doesn’t score a ton of points, but he opened Stagg’s scoring Wednesday night with a 3-pointer and added four points in the fourth quarter of a 76-66 nonconference win over Lemont in Palos Hills.
David Ortiz, Tarik Barakat and Domas Narcevicius scored 16 points apiece and Connor Williams added 14 for the Chargers (16-9).
Klaidas Paskauskas ended up with 22 points for Lemont (14-10), which was coming off a 69-63 loss in triple overtime to T.F. North the night before in a South Suburban Blue marathon. Ryan Runaas added 16 points and Zane Schneider had 15.
Meanwhile, in most cases, it’s a never a good sign for a player to be on a freshman B team if he has his eyes on the varsity.
“I heard that, of course,” Hijaz said. “I heard it every day. You are not getting minutes. You are not getting chances.”
But Hijaz was not going to let that, nor the lack of playing time the following two years, deter him. During the summer, he and a few teammates would work on their games at 5:30 a.m.
Hijaz said he was always confident on defense, but his offense was coming around.
“In the summer league, I was scoring more,” he said. “That’s what kept me on the court.”
Hijaz is being asked to guard the opponents’ top player, but he still has time to average four points and close to three rebounds a game.
Stagg coach Marty Strus is impressed with the uptick in Hijaz’s career.
“He’s given himself to the team,” Strus said. “When you have people like Connor and David and Domas, who can really score the ball, your role on this team is to be a defensive stopper and be strong with the basketball.
“He rebounds well for a guard. He makes winning plays, and he’s a winning player. He’s a great example for our younger kids in the program.”
Narcevicius is impressed with his teammate’s leap to starter.
“He’s one of our cornerstones,” Narcevicius said. “He takes charges. He rebounds. He’s really like our Dennis Rodman.
“I’m happy for him. When he started playing, we realized we could win around here and be a great team this year.”
Stagg was coming off one of its best games of the season with a convincing 90-64 SouthWest Suburban Red victory Friday over Bradley-Bourbonnais, which on Jan. 23 was the first team in the state to beat Homewood-Flossmoor.
Add the 76 points against Lemont, and the Chargers’ offense is in high gear.
“When we played Bradley, we needed to guard them,” Hijaz said. “We know we can score against anyone. I don’t know how much I scored. I don’t count the points, I just go out and play my hardest.”
With his late ascension, Hijaz realizes he’s behind when it comes to recruiting. He also doesn’t play AAU, so colleges aren’t knocking on his door.
“Not yet, but we’re looking,” Hijaz said. “For now, we just want to win games every day. We’re looking for a conference championship and a regional championship.
“If we play our best, we can beat anyone on any given night.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
