An 18-year-old man was fatally shot December 4, 2021 in Englewood.

The man was walking through a gas station about 8 p.m. in the 1100 block of West 63rd Street when a vehicle drove by and someone from inside opened fire.

An 18-year-old man was killed at a gas station Saturday night in Englewood on the South Side.

The man was walking through a gas station about 8 p.m. in the 1100 block of West 63rd Street when a vehicle drove by and someone from inside opened fire, Chicago police said.

He was shot multiple times in the body and was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. His name hasn’t been released.

Area One detectives are investigating.

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Nick Saban and Bryce Young after the SEC title game. | Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

We’re all such suckers. Of course Alabama is the new No. 1. Why didn’t we see it coming?

We’re all such suckers.

Of course Alabama is college football’s new No. 1. It’s playoff time, with the field set to be announced late Sunday morning, so what else was going to happen? Does anything else ever happen? Why didn’t all of us see this coming?

The Crimson Tide weren’t better than Georgia at any point in any week all season — right up until they trailed 10-0 on Saturday in the SEC championship game. And then quarterback Bryce Young went off with a “give me that Heisman” flurry of NFL-quality dimes. Receiver Jameson Williams made like DeVonta Smith. Safety Jordan Battle ran in a pick-six.

What did Georgia do? It got away from what it does best, which is run the ball and beat up the guys in the other jerseys. It got really desperate, really fast, and became an almost unrecognizable version of itself. That’s what Nick Saban’s teams do to opponents in big games. We’ve seen it so many times.

What did Alabama do? It Alabama-ed. That’s all.

It gets kind of old sometimes. But it’s also amazing.

It’s the Tide’s world. Maybe Georgia will pay them back in the playoff, or maybe Georgia will get rolled again by an even worse score than 41-24. Which would be more surprising?

Saban’s next national title will be the eighth of his career and No. 7 at Alabama. Is it in the cards this season? It’ll probably be more enjoyable to pretend we don’t already know the answer.

Here’s what’s happening:

SUN 5

CBB: Northwestern at Maryland (11 a.m., BTN)

It’s the Wildcats’ Big Ten debut, and what a time to be visiting College Park. Mark Turgeon is out as coach. In Game 1 as the interim guy: Danny Manning. Believe it or not, some say he was an even better player than Chris Collins.

College Football Playoff rankings show (11:15 a.m., ESPN)

At last, the final four teams are revealed. Is Notre Dame in? And on a completely unrelated note, is LSU coach Brian Kelly seriously faking a Southern accent?

Cardinals at Bears (noon, Fox-32)

If Cards QB Kyler Murray’s ankle isn’t going to stop him from playing, any chance it can at least stop him from embarrassing the Bears’ defense?

Blackhawks at Islanders (6:30 p.m., NBCSCH)

How bad have the Isles been lately? Think: early-season-Hawks bad. Jeremy Colliton might have to save Barry Trotz a stool at the Pink Slip Saloon.

Broncos at Chiefs (7:20 p.m., Ch. 5, Peacock)

Which is worse if you’re Denver: Patrick Mahomes’ 7-0 record against you or Andy Reid’s 19-3 record coming off bye weeks? The correct answer is “yes.”

MON 6

CBB: Illinois at Iowa (6 p.m., FS1)

Sadly, Kofi Cockburn-Luka Garza battles are a thing of the past with Garza off to the NBA. Are we the only ones who just assumed he’d go straight from Iowa to a 50-and-over league?

Nuggets at Bulls (7 p.m., NBCSCH)

Not to tell Billy Donovan how to do his job, but we’d stick with the game plan in which Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan combine for 60-plus points. Hey, it worked a couple weeks back in Denver, didn’t it?

Patriots at Bills (7:15 p.m., ESPN)

If you go by point differential, these are the best two teams in the NFL. It also strongly indicates they share a division with the Jets.

TUE 7

Rangers at Blackhawks (7:30 p.m., NBCSCH)

The Rangers have been banged up all season — now goalie Igor Shesterkin is out — yet they keep winning all the time anyway. Isn’t that against the rules or something?

WED 8

Bulls at Cavaliers (6 p.m., NBCSCH)

New Cavalier Lauri Markkanen has been playing some of the best basketball of his career lately, and you know what? Good for him.

THU 9

Canadiens at Blackhawks (6 p.m., NBCSCH)

In a matter of months, the Habs have gone from the Stanley Cup finals to worst-team-on-the-planet territory. You’ve got to admit, that’s impressive.

Steelers at Vikings (7:20 p.m., Fox-32, NFL, Amazon)

Neither team has amounted to much this season, but there’s still some time left. Wait, is that a good thing?

FRI 10

CBB: DePaul at Louisville (7 p.m., ACC)

These schools haven’t played each other since 2013, when the Blue Demons lost to Louisville for a 10th straight time over an eight year-span. No wonder they took their ball and went home for a while.

SAT 11

Army vs. Navy (2 p.m., Ch. 2)

The Black Knights and Midshipmen meet for the 122nd time, this one in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Jeez, what did they do to deserve being sent there?

MLS Cup final (2 p.m., Ch. 7, UniMas)

You’ve got to hand it to the MLS — you never know who’s going to win the championship because it’s seemingly a different team every year. (Insert Fire joke here.)

CBB: Arizona at Illinois (4 p.m., Fox-32)

At least the Illini know that even if they’re down 15 points in the final minutes, Deron Williams, Luther Head and Dee Brown can pull them right back into it.

Bulls at Heat (7 p.m., NBCSCH+)

Their last game in Chicago — Heat 107, Bulls 104 — was a really good one. It’s just more fun, isn’t it, when neither team stinks?

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A 54-year-old woman was fatally shot December 4, 2021 in West Englewood. | Sun-Times file photo

The woman was standing on the porch of a home about 5:15 p.m. in the 6500 block of South Claremont Avenue when people got out of a vehicle and fired shots at her.

A 54-year-old woman was shot to death Saturday afternoon in West Englewood on the South Side.

The woman was standing on the porch of a home about 5:15 p.m. in the 6500 block of South Claremont Avenue when people got out of a vehicle and fired shots at her, Chicago police said.

She was struck in the leg and abdomen and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

Her name hasn’t been released.

Area One detectives are investigating.

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Thornton’s Ty Rodgers (23) moves the ball against St. Rita. | Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

The stage was set for a memorable clash between Illinois recruits when Thornton and St. Rita faced off at the Chicago Elite Classic on Saturday

The stage was set for a memorable clash between Illinois recruits when Thornton and St. Rita faced off at the Chicago Elite Classic on Saturday. Thornton features Ty Rodgers, a top 100 national player that recently transferred from Michigan and committed to IIlinois.

St. Rita has a bevy of talented young players, including 6-9 sophomore Morez Johnson, who committed to Illinois last month.

Unknown junior Vincent Rainey snuck in and stole the show. Rainey scored 19 points off the bench to lead the Wildcats to a 60-51 victory at Credit Union 1 Arena.

“He can shoot the ball and he loves the lights,” Thornton coach Tai Streets said. “That was awesome.”

Rainey scored 16 in the first half as Thornton (4-1) built a 33-24 lead.

“The big game just gives me more motivation,” Rainey said. “I knew college scouts were going to be out there and that is why I started playing ball in the first place.”

St. Rita’s twin sophomore towers of 6-9 Morez Johnson and James Brown crowded the post, so Thornton shot from outside. The Wildcats were 7 for 24 from three-point range.

“Normally we don’t shoot all those but the game dictated it,” Streets said. “They were playing a lot of zone. I don’t mind them shooting it if they are open.”

It was the first game on a major local stage for Rodgers. He didn’t disappoint. The 6-7 senior is a perfect example of a point forward. He finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals while dictating the pace of the game for large chunks of time.

“I think it went pretty well,” Rodgers said. “It was a little bit sloppy but we came out here and got the win and played solid as a team so I’m happy with it.”

Johnson and Brown had relatively quiet games. Johnson opened with a dunk and finished with eight points and nine rebounds. Brown added nine points and six rebounds.

St. Rita sophomore Jaedin Reyna dazzled early in the third quarter, scoring four consecutive buckets at one point. He finished with 17 points.

Rodgers led his Michigan high school to a state championship last season. His presence immediately raised expectations at Thornton.

“He just does everything,” Streets said. “He brings the ball down the court, guards the best guy, rebounds. He does everything at a high level.”Thornton opened the season with wins against Peoria Manual and Decatur Eisenhower before losing to Bolingbrook last week.

“We aren’t where we want to be yet, no one is,” Streets said. “But I think a lot is possible with this group if we keep improving.”

Brown and Johnson play club basketball for Streets’ Meanstreets AAU team, so he was very familiar with his opponents.

“They are young but they are going to be awesome at the end of the day,” Street said. “We know that.”

St. Rita (4-2) beat De La Salle on Friday. The Mustangs other loss this season is to St. Louis Vashon.

“It was pretty cool out there,” Reyna said. “I had never played in front of a crowd like this. It was exciting but I think [Thornton] came out better as a team and we weren’t able to pull it off.”

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Northern Illinois quarterback Rocky Lombardi runs for a touchdown in the second half against Kent State on Saturday in Detroit. | Mike Mulholland/Getty Images

Quarterback Rocky Lombardi ran for three touchdowns and Jay Ducker ran for 146 yards to power the Huskies, who won their sixth MAC title in the last 11 years.

DETROIT — Quarterback Rocky Lombardi ran for three touchdowns and Jay Ducker ran for 146 yards on 29 carries to power Northern Illinois to a 41-23 victory over Kent State in the Mid-American Conference title game on Saturday.

It is the Huskies’ (9-4) sixth MAC title in the last 11 years and first since 2018 when it beat Buffalo. Kent State (7-6) was shooting for its first conference championship since winning it in 1972.

“This is historic,” said Huskies coach Thomas Hammock whose team was predicted to finish in last place this year after going 0-6 in 2020. “I don’t think any team has gone winless the year before and won a championship.

“When everybody said we would finish last, all I told our team was we are the best team in the MAC until proven otherwise. Obviously, they didn’t prove us otherwise.”

Momentum appeared to be shifting to the Golden Flashes at the start of the second half. Andrew Glass kicked a 41-yard field goal on the opening drive for their first points of the game and the Kent State defense forced Northern Illinois to punt for the first time.

But on the next drive Dustin Crum, the MAC’s most valuable player this season, was intercepted by C.J. Brown who returned it 26 yards for a touchdown as the Huskies went ahead 24-3.

“I saw it tipped and I went up and had to make a play,” said Brown who was named the defensive player of the game. “I felt like that was a game-changing play when we needed it.”

The Golden Flashes cut the deficit to 24-10 with 27 seconds left in the third quarter when Crum hit Nykeim Johnson on a 17-yard scoring strike.

The Huskies ended Kent State’s comeback hopes when Lombardi scored on a 3-yard keeper with 10:54 left making it 31-10. He added a 2-yard TD run nearly four minutes later.

“Picked a bad day to not coach these guys to the best of my ability, not lead my staff to the best of my ability,” said Kent State coach Sean Lewis. “That’s unfortunate because these guys deserve better.”

Kent State’s Collin Schlee ran four yards for a touchdown and also threw a 7-yard TD pass to Luke Floriea as time expired to close out the scoring.

Northern Illinois held Crum to 27 yards passing in the first half while building a 17-0 lead.

After John Richardson kicked a 27-yard field goal to close the first drive, Clint Ratkovich capped a 10-play, 78-yard march with a 2-yard TD run to push the Huskies ahead 10-0 with 2:09 left in the first quarter.

Following a leaping interception by Northern Illinois linebacker Dillon Thomas on Kent State’s next drive, Lombardi drove the Huskies 81 yards and extended their advantage to 17-0 when he bulled over the goal line from the 1 with 8:33 remaining.

“To become the MAC champions means the world,” said Ducker who was named the offensive player of the game. “We set a goal at the beginning of the year to win the MAC championship and we got it today.”

UP NEXT

The Golden Flashes and Huskies will need to wait until Sunday to find out their bowl destinations. The MAC has eight teams bowl eligible but the conference champion does not automatically qualify for a specific bowl.

IN MEMORY

Prior to the start of the game, a moment of silence was observed in memory of the killing of four students earlier this week at Oxford High School, located about 30 miles north of Detroit. Black ribbons were tied to each goal post in support of the school and community, and students from Oxford High School were hosted at the game and recognized during the first half.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

After going 0-6 in 2020, Northern Illinois completed a worst-to-first season with a roster comprised of 75 players who finished high school in 2020 or 2021. According to a Northern Illinois sports information spokesperson, the Huskies had the second-youngest roster among 130 FBS team this year. Only Navy’s roster was younger with 99 players from classes in the same years.

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The Leighton Criminal Courthouse | Sun-Times file photo

Deshaun Glover, 18, was denied bail Saturday on charges that he shot a 29-year-old man Oct. 17 on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Bail was denied Saturday for an 18-year-old man charged with attempted murder in a shooting last month on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Deshaun Glover fired multiple rounds about 2 a.m. on Oct. 17 from a silver Audi that struck a 29-year-old food delivery driver as he drove west on Interstate 90/94 near Ontario Street, according to Illinois State Police and Cook County prosecutors.

The man was headed home with his girlfriend when he was shot in the back and hand, and also suffered a graze wound to his neck, state police said. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for treatment.

His girlfriend wasn’t hurt.

The next day, Chicago police officers spotted a stolen Audi that matched the description of the car used in the shooting and Glover was taken into custody as he ran from the Audi when it crashed in the 1500 block of South Kildare Avenue, prosecutors said in court.

Glover admitted a Glock handgun found inside the Audi was his, prosecutors said. The gun matched shell casings found inside the Audi, as well as inside the car the 29-year-old victim was riding in, prosecutors said.

Judge Maryam Ahmad ordered Glover held without bail and set his next court appearance for Friday.

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St Ignatius’ Jackson Kotecki (24) drives the ball past Chaminade. | Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

St. Ignatius began the season with a top five ranking and aspirations to finish the season in Champaign. Things haven’t gone according to plan so far.

St. Ignatius began the season with a top five ranking and aspirations to finish the season in Champaign.

Things haven’t gone according to plan so far. The Wolfpack are just 3-4 after losing a high-profile game to St. Louis Vashon on Saturday in the Chicago Elite Classic at Credit Union 1 Arena.

“We’re still the same team we were before the season started,” St. Ignatius junior Richard Barron said. “Everyone is going to lose a couple games. It’s only the beginning, it doesn’t matter. We’re just going to keep working. We have an end goal in March, not right now. We may drop a couple but we are never going to change our character.”

The Red Devils beat St. Ignatius 46-33. The Wolfpack didn’t score a field goal for the final 6:30 of the game.

“We got a lot better just during the course of that game,” St. Ignatius coach Matt Monroe said. “We’re certainly not satisfied with moral victories but we saw a lot of improvement in a multitude of ways. Especially on the defensive end.”

Senior guard AJ Redd led the Wolfpack with nine points and seven rebounds. Jackson Kotecki added eight points and five rebounds.

St. Ignatius led 19-17 at halftime. The Red Devils (2-0) took control with an 11-0 run midway through the fourth quarter.

“There’s no doubt in my mind we have what it takes to have a great season,” Monroe said. “For us to do that we have to battle through this adversity and learn from it.”

Nilivan Daniels led Chaminade with 15 points and 13 rebounds and Filip Sinobad added 13 points.

St. Ignatius was 3 for 15 from three-point range and 13 of 46 from the field overall. The Wolfpack lost at Leo Friday night, so they went from one of the city’s smallest gyms to a college court in just a few hours.

“The college court was definitely no joke in terms of length and width,” Redd said. “There was a lot of up and down today which tested our wind a little bit. But I think it was good because we were able to get out in open space and create for one another.

St. Ignatius opened the season with wins against Bulls Prep and Round Lake and then lost close games to Lake Forest and Loyola. The defeat at Leo was by ten points.

“Our schedule is loaded,” Monroe said. “We’re playing great programs that run really effective systems. When we put our schedule together we wanted to make sure our guys were going to be challenged. In all the games we’ve played we’ve competed really well. Our guys are benefiting greatly from it. No matter what happens I believe in them and what they are going to do. That is never gonna waver and we’re going to be stronger for it at the end of this.

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Police investigate after a shootout Wednesday near the 9200 block of South Stony Island Avenue. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Adonis Convington, 21, and Michael Taylor, 26, were charged with multiple felonies, including attempted first degree murder in the shooting of a Chicago police officer Wednesday night on the South Side.

A judge denied bail Saturday for two men who were wounded in a shootout with police that also left an officer injured earlier this week near a Calumet Heights neighborhood gas station on the South Side.

Adonis Covington and Michael Taylor face multiple felonies stemming from Wednesday’s confrontation near 92nd Street and Stony Island Avenue, including two counts of attempted first-degree murder, authorities said.

Two days before the encounter, two Chicago police officers had spotted a black Jeep Grand Cherokee that was reported stolen in the neighborhood — and both times the Jeep fled, Cook County prosecutors said during a bail hearing.

The officers saw the Jeep again Wednesday night at the Citgo station on Stony Island Avenue, prosecutors said.

They parked their squad vehicle, walked up and, as it began to slowly roll away, one of the officers jumped into the backseat while announcing “Chicago police,” prosecutors said. Taylor, 26, was allegedly at the wheel, with Covington, 21, in the passenger seat.

Covington allegedly pulled out a handgun and fired a shot at the officer, who was trying to get out of the car, prosecutors said. The officer said he thought he returned fire as he fell out, according to prosecutors.

The Jeep took off but crashed nearby, prosecutors said. Taylor then allegedly got out and pointed a gun at the officers.

In the ensuing exchange of gunfire, an officer was shot in the calf, Covington was hit in the knee and Taylor was grazed across the shin, prosecutors said. The defendants allegedly tried to run but were arrested a couple of blocks away.

Taylor’s lawyers said they believe the evidence will show he never fired a weapon.

The wounded officer was treated at the University of Chicago Medical Center and has since been released. Taylor was also treated and released into custody. Covington remained hospitalized Saturday.

Both men have another court hearing scheduled for Monday.

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