The Battle of Pulaski is about community. Two South Side institutions, Brother Rice and Marist, meet up every season and play in a packed, hot gym and pay tribute to Andrew Weishar, a Brother Rice grad who died from cancer in 2010. His family has ties to both schools and the foundation created in his memory has raised more than 3 million dollars to help families fight cancer.
It’s always a fun night and Tuesday provided even more. Junior Stephen Brown, one of the state’s most tantalizing talents, is back on the court for the RedHawks. He picked up an injury during the football season and just recently returned to action.
Brown says he’s at about 85%. However, the 6-7 forward was still able to provide some memorable moments of athleticism and scored 11 points to help No. 21 Marist comeback to beat visiting Brother Rice 56-51.
“He’s always going to be the best athlete on the court,” RedHawks coach Brian Hynes said. “He just does things that I can’t coach.”
No. 11 Brother Rice (17-3) led 33-23 at halftime and by 13 late in the third quarter. The teams have similar records, but the Crusaders have faced a much tougher schedule and entered as favorites. It seemed they were about to pull away for good, but Marist turned the game around with a 15-2 burst.
Brown, Karson Thomas, Marquis Vance, and Adoni Vassilakis made key plays during the comeback.
“I like being on the court with my brothers and it was hard missing that,” Brown said. “We were looking forward to this moment [beating Brother Rice]. We knew it was going to happen eventually.”
Vassilakis scored 11 points and Thomas added 10. Marist (19-2) made all ten free throws in the final three minutes to help hold off a comeback from Brother Rice.
“We were struggling on doing the little things right in the first half,” Vassilakis said. “We fixed that and it turned everything around for us, It’s always big when you step out on the court after halftime and hear that crowd. It helped us feel we could get back in this.”
Citadel recruit Marcos Gonzales led Brother Rice with 22 points and Jack Weigus scored 18. Weigus drained five threes in the first half to help the Crusaders build the halftime lead. Marist was able to contain him for the last two quarters.
“The guy we were supposed to face guard [scored 15 points] in the first half,” Hynes said. “[Weigus] is a good shooter. And Gonzales may be the best player we face all season. He’s so hard to stop.”
Marist is at St. Viator on Friday and then takes on undefeated Waubonsie Valley on Saturday. It’s the biggest week of the regular season for the RedHawks.
“This gives our kids confidence we can play with the top teams,” Hynes said. “We lost to Benet in overtime and had a tough time with Centralia. Our kids needed a game like this.”
Brother Rice is also in the midst of a challenging stretch. The Crusaders lost to St. Ignatius last weekend and are on the road at top-ranked DePaul Prep on Friday.
“Offensively, we struggled to finish at the rim and we missed a lot of free throws,” Brother Rice coach Conte Stamas said. “We weren’t scoring in the second half. We just have to keep getting better. Fundamentals. Nothing else.”