12/08-12/09/12
SPORTS | 39
THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
photography by j.geil
SPOTLIGHT
name: Sam Downey position: Center school: Lake Forest
Fricke. Weinstein is convinced that the Tigers will uncover a gem in Cook. “I’d be surprised if he’s not an all-conference player for them.” AUSTIN CURREN
Austin Curren shared a couple of his likes after a boys basketball at North Shore Country Day last week. The NSCD senior guard stood out of bounds at the time, near a basket in the Raiders’ cozy gym. “I like to do what most high school kids like to do,” the 6-foot-3, 190-pounder said. “Hang out with friends and eat.” What he doesn’t like to do: sit during basketball games. But that’s what he had to do during each of the Raiders’ first five games this winter. A pulled right hamstring — sustained on a basketball court last summer — hasn’t completely healed. Curren aggravated the stubborn injury on a football field three times since then. He didn’t play a down as a NSCD wideout this past fall. “I won’t guess,” he said of his return date to the hoops fold. “It’s been frustrating,” the Wilmette resident added. Curren averaged 17 points and eight rebounds for the Raiders in 2011-12, after pouring in a career-high 32 points against Mooseheart in a varsity game as a sophomore. “Austin knows his game, pushes his teammates, and his basketball IQ is pretty high,” NSCD coach Rashid Smith said after his club routed visiting Northtown 66-40 Nov. 27 for its first win of the season. “Our perimeter defense,” he added, “is a little porous without Austin out there.” NSCD lost its first four games, all at last month’s Maine West Thanksgiving Tournament.
name: Sam Shrago position: Forward school: Highland Park
I do my best to boost the morale of my teammates during games.” — Austin Curren The Raiders aren’t just missing Curren’s significant stats. They’re also battling without two of his intangibles. “I play hard, and I do my best to boost the morale of my teammates during games,” Curren said. “I’ve always liked the competitiveness of basketball, and I enjoy being a part of a team.” Two of his inspirations at NSCD have been Smith and former Raiders head football coach Adam Mangana. “(Mangana) was good at motivating me, and I respect Coach Smith, who has coached me since I was 12,” Curren said. Raiders senior guard/forward Riley Hall respects Curren’s game. “He’s our go-to, a very good finisher,” Hall said after netting 21 of his game-high 22 points in the first half and finishing with a team-best 13 rebounds in the defeat of Northtown. “Austin is also a relaxed guy, one of my friends. He’s a good guy.” SAM DOWNEY
He owns a left hook now, to go with his effective right hook. Lake Forest High School senior Sam Downey also floors people with an assortment of other moves. But Downey doesn’t box in rings. He boxes out on courts and scores points for the Scouts’ boys basketball team.
name: Porter Veach position: Guard school: Lake Forest Academy
“Any team we play in our conference (North Suburban Lake) won’t be able to match up with Sam,” Lake Forest senior guard Ben Simpson said of the 6-foot-9 Downey. Mundelein, an NSC Lake team, attempted to contain Downey Friday night in the teams’ division opener at LF. Downey dropped 15 points on the Mustangs and came down with eight rebounds in LF’s 69-61 victory. “Sam has improved tremendously,” Scouts coach Phil LaScala said last month, a couple of days after Downey overwhelmed Urban Prep’s post players with a 26-point effort in a 77-37 rout at the Niles West Thanksgiving Tournament. Downey weighs 215 pounds. Last year he was a 190-pounder, and he saw only ounces of playing time in the 2011 portion of the 2011-12 season. “That was tough, getting to play only a little at the end of games at the beginning of the season,” Downey recalled after Friday night’s game. “But we had very good seniors and they helped me gain some confidence. “I worked hard in practice.” Downey’s minutes in games grew last winter as the temperatures outside fell. By mid-July Yale expressed an interest in Downey, who developed his game as an AAU player for Fundamental U and eventually committed to the Ivy League school. Among his AAU mates: Mundelein senior Sean O’Brien and 6-8 Glenbrook North senior Andrew McAuliffe. “It was a great experience and it helped my game, going up against talented players like that,” Downey said. Against Mundelein Friday night, Downey got creative in the paint — without a brush, without a canvas. The big man executed an impressive array of moves SPOTLIGHT >> PAGE 41