EJ Mosley is a rare diamond this season. The St. Laurence senior is a Division I-bound guard who has started on varsity for four years. His experience and talent give the Vikings an instant advantage against most teams in the area.
“Our team is really balanced and shares the ball,” St. Laurence coach Roshawn Russell said. “But that should not take away from EJ being considered for Player of the Year. He controls so much on the floor. So much more than passing. He’s a willing passer. Maybe too much. I’d like to see him shoot it more. But I always know when we have him on the floor, we have a chance to win.”
Mosley had 17 points to lead the No. 18 Vikings to a 69-58 win at De La Salle on Tuesday. The Purdue-Fort Wayne recruit also had five assists and four rebounds.
“I just do whatever my team needs me to do,” Mosley said. “If I’m feeling it, I’ll keep shooting.”
Mosley played his first two seasons at St. Laurence, then transferred to Romeoville before returning to St. Laurence.
“We already had the chemistry, so that -really helped,” Vikings senior Zerrick Johnson said. “As soon as we got back together, we jelled.”
Johnson had 16 points and senior Jacob Rice 11. Rice, at 6-4, is St. Laurence’s tallest player. The Vikings shot 10-for-25 from three-point range.
“That’s the reason we want to play fast,” Mosley said. “We are undersized, so we need to get up and down the court.”
The Vikings (15-4) led 41-31 at halftime. De La Salle stormed back and cut the lead to 46-44 on a three-pointer from junior Morgan Taylor with 3:46 left in the third quarter. St. Laurence closed the quarter with an 8-0 run to end the threat.
The game was played with a shot clock. The Illinois High School Association has allowed the shot clock in tournaments and shootouts, but this was just a regular-season game.
“Right before the season in our league, we had a spreadsheet that went around, and if a school has the shot clock, if both schools agree, they can play with it,” Russell said.
Taylor led the Meteors (8-9) with 21 points, and Remi Edwards added 11 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman point guard Roosevelt Thomas had eight points and five rebounds.
De La Salle is young. Coach Gary De-Cesare doesn’t have a senior in the starting lineup, and highly regarded junior Charles Barnes missed the game because of an injury.
St. Laurence has been ranked all season and opened eyes with an overtime win against Homewood-Flossmoor in December. The Vikings have played an excellent schedule. They lost to St. Louis Vashon last week and Quincy, one of the state’s best Class 4A teams, on the road in November.
“We are having a really good season,” Russell said. “It’s nice when you have seniors that are taking control. And we have some sophomores that are stepping up and giving us a boost.”