What a start to the season. It’s generally not a great idea to take too much away from the first week, teams are just finding their footing and there is obviously a really, really long way to go.

But tonight’s Young vs. Kenwood showdown wasn’t the normal half empty Thanksgiving tournament game. There are a couple things worth mentioning that didn’t make the game story.

Kenwood freshman Noah Mister is going to contribute right away this season. He’s composed and ready and can shoot it. He scored five points in the third quarter.

“Noah Mister is big time,” Broncos coach Mike Irvin said. “He came in and made his presence felt. He’s the best freshman in the state.”

Young’s not going to have an issue rebounding. The Dolphins are smaller than most of the elite teams in the area but 6-7 Daniel Johnson, who spent most of the last two seasons on the wing, stepped in and made an immediate impact on the boards. Young’s entire team rebounded well, especially junior Sean Brown, who was force in many phases of the game.

Young coach Tyrone Slaughter has been the driving force behind these major season opener matchups the past few years. It’s a terrific idea that has changed the feel of Thanksgiving week basketball. McGrath-Phillips arena was loaded with students, which provided a fantastic atmosphere. Well done.

Monday’s top games

Hyde Park 64, Lincoln Park 57: This was the first game at DePaul. Cam Williford had 20 points, Damarion Morris scored 16 and Jurrell Baldwin added 11 for the Thunderbirds.

Curie 84, Farragut 67: Chikasi Ofoma scored 20 and Carlos Harris filled up the stat sheet with 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Romeoville 83, Plainfield Central 55: The ranked Spartans open strong. Troy Cicero had 13 points, four assists and five rebounds and Meyoh Swansey added 12 points.

Oak Lawn 74, Bremen 57: This is a team that hasn’t received much preseason attention that I’m interested in. Ayham Salah scored 18 and Marist transfer Xavier Sulaiman added 16.

Crystal Lake South 54, Marian Central 51: Cooper LePage, a Northern Michigan recruit, is a player that hasn’t been receiving enough attention in the notebooks. That will change this season. LePage had 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Gators.

Lemont 66, Minooka 39: Don’t expect Lemont to go away just because Nojus Indrusaitis left. The Castillo twins are dangerous. Matas had 20 points, seven steals and four assists and Rokas added eight points.

Homewood-Flossmoor 63, Rich 57 OT: Oh my it went to overtime. New H-F coach Jamere Dismukes squeaks by his old school and Lou Adams. Carson Brownfield led the Vikings with 18 and Vincent Davis scored 15. Samar Bures had 17 for the Raptors.

Lindblom 62, Stagg 55: JeShawn Stevenson is another player we will be closely watching throughout the year. The junior led the way with 24 points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Quentin McCoy added 15 points and seven assists. Both are juniors.

Momence 54, Grant Park 43: Underrated point guard James Stevenson Jr. finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and four blocks and Kudde Bertram added 17 points.

Perspectives-Leadership 78, Shepard 29: The transfers didn’t all play. I’ll have to check on that later this week. But the Cobb brothers led the way to the win.. Gianni scored 23 and KJ added 15.

Glenbard West 53, Glenbard South: I didn’t see any stats from this one, but we should probably keep tracking the Hilltoppers until they eventually lose to an in-state team. It’s been a long while.

West Aurora 73, Oswego 66: The Panthers show some spark. The Southwest Prairie should be one of the most interesting conferences in the area this season.

Marist 51, Andrew 40: Solid win for a really young squad. Romeoville transfer Keshaun Vaval scored 23 and freshman big Stephen Brown had nine.

Hinsdale Central 50, Naperville North 48: Ben Oosterbaan scored 19 in one of the closest games of the night.

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A new season tipped off on Monday at DePaul’s McGrath-Phillips Arena. But in some ways, it was just the second chapter of the burgeoning Kenwood vs. Young rivalry that sparked last season.

Or is it a rivalry? After Young beat Kenwood in the supersectionals last season Dolphins coach Tyrone Slaughter said “There is no rivalry. They have no state championships and we have five. They have created a rivalry. You have to beat someone to have a rivalry.”

Slaughter doubled down on his remark when his team emerged on Monday wearing warmup shirts that read “We have no rival.”

Whatever the status, fans of both schools packed the gym for the season opener between No. 3 Kenwood and No. 5 Young. It came down to the final seconds and the Broncos pulled out a 46-44 victory.

The warmup shirts hit a nerve with Kenwood.

“They were basically calling us trash,” Broncos guard Dai Dai Ames said. “So we showed them we aren’t trash.”

Isaiah Green was the hero. The Hillcrest transfer was playing in his first game for Kenwood and stepped up at the end after Ames fouled out with a minute remaining. Green drove to the basket and scored to put the Broncos ahead by two points with 21 seconds left.

Young had a chance to win or tie but Dalen Davis’ drive to the basket missed and Kenwood’s Edwon Duling secured the rebound.

Broncos coach Mike Irvin and his team celebrated wildly at the buzzer. Irvin beat his chest at center court.

“I need my theme music because I feel like dancing,” Irvin said. “We have the best coach in the city, we have the best players in the city and I’m going to show everybody.”

Ames led Kenwood with 14 points and Green scored 10. Jaden Smith, a highly-regarded 6-10 junior, is starting to live up to his promise. Smith had seven points and seven rebounds.

“That was the arrival of Jaden Smith,” Irvin said. “I trust him. He fought tonight and was great in the second half.”

Smith played sparingly last season after transferring from Lincoln Park.

“This year I have a way bigger role and I’m excited to step into it,” Smith said. “We have a good group that is jelling.”

Seven players scored for Young in the first quarter and that balance held up throughout the game. Dalen Davis and Sean Brown each finished with 11 points. Brown had eight boards and Daniel Johnson added nine points and 11 rebounds for Young.

“They made some plays and we didn’t make plays,” Slaughter said. “We had an opportunity to tie or take the lead but we didn’t get a good shot. But you know, first game. We’ll take it.”

Young led 28-20 at halftime but Kenwood clawed back during the second half and tied the score at 39 on a shot from Smith in the post with 4:40 left.

“He’s been working on that shot every practice,” Ames said. “I’m glad he has the confidence to take it in a real game.”

Young and Kenwood could meet three more times this season. Both teams are in the Proviso West Holiday Tournament and may run into each other in the city and state playoffs.

Despite the loss, Slaughter was not ready to call Kenwood vs. Young a rivalry.

“You can tell by the way the game ended and their emotions that they wanted to beat us,” Slaughter said. “We were happy they felt good about it. Because we know the last time we played it was the end of the year, not the beginning of the year.

It’s not a rivalry. As our shirts say, we have no rivals. It’s a good game for the kids to play and a good game for fans of basketball and the city. But until something different happens I’m not prepared to say it’s a rivalry.”

Watch the final minute of Kenwood vs. Young:

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Zach LaVine was right where he belonged.

Or at least where he felt he belonged: on the court, with the game still up for grabs, ball in hand.

It was a different scenario from three nights earlier, when coach Billy Donovan sat LaVine late in a loss to the Magic, which obviously led to some hurt feelings.

“You play a guy like me down the stretch,” LaVine said afterward.

Message heard.

With the Celtics chipping away at the Bulls’ lead Monday and 3:44 left in the game, LaVine made a 29-footer to all but gut-punch the comeback. Alex Caruso’s reverse layup 40 seconds later made it a 15-point lead, and the Bulls went on to beat the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics 121-107.

No big deal? Wrong, it was very big.

Not only did it snap a four-game losing streak for the Bulls (7-10), but it ended a nine-game winning streak for the Celtics. The Bulls have handed the Celtics two of their four losses this season.

LaVine had 22 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

“I thought [LaVine] played a great game,” Donovan said. “I have an enormous amount of confidence in his ability to shoot the ball. He generated a lot of open shots for our guys. He’s unselfish from that standpoint. His fingerprints were all over the game in a lot of ways.”

LaVine was just glad they were also all over the game late.

“I just went out there and played hard,” LaVine said. “I just tried to be active, and I think it showed.”

But early on, it had all the makings of another bad night for LaVine. There were definite signs of a Magic hangover.

By the time the first quarter came to an end, the Bulls had a five-point lead, but LaVine was only 1-for-6 from the field, including 1-for-4 from three-point range. That gave the max-contract guard an ugly-looking five straight quarters in which he shot a combined 2-for-20 from the field and 1-for-9 from long range.

It was further proof that LaVine still wasn’t close to right after undergoing offseason surgery on his left knee. Even he admitted that the explosion hasn’t been there, especially around the rim.

“I’m trying to get all the way back,” LaVine said. “It’s frustrating being able to get to the rim and then missing bunnies. I’ve had a lot of drives where I get there and I do finish acrobatically or get all the way to the top, get over the rim. So it’s coming back.”

He made that clear in the second quarter, taking a Coby White pass, cocking it behind his head with one hand and slamming it down for one of his more athletic moves of the season.

It was a vintage LaVine move on a night in which he was still inconsistent.

His hope was that it was another indication that it’s coming.

“You gotta have thick skin,” LaVine said. “You gotta be able to forget fast.”

Especially with the schedule the Bulls have coming up.

The Celtics game was the last time they’ll play in Chicago until Dec. 7. They start a six-game road trip in Milwaukee on Wednesday, then head to Oklahoma City, Utah, Phoenix, Golden State and Sacramento. They’ll do so searching for a consistent offensive identity.

“We’re trying to find it,” LaVine said. “It’s frustrating trying to catch that rhythm. You got to call it black and white. We don’t look great out there at times, and we got to figure it out.”

For one night, they did.

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A former Cubs pitcher, Dave Hillman has passed away at age 95

Dave Hillman, a pitcher who made waves in the mid to late 1950’s for the Chicago Cubs has passed away at the age of 95.

Hillman had been at the Brookdale assisted-living facility in Kingsport, Tennessee, since the first of May and died from natural causes.

Signed in 1950, he had several good years in the Cubs system but somehow wasn’t called to the big club until 1955, when he was 27. Then he posted reasonable numbers in 1958 and 1959, which were the team’s two best years of that decade, and Ernie Banks’ two MVP seasons.

The right-hander compiled a 21-37 record with three saves and a 3.87 ERA in a 188-game MLB career that spanned from 1955-1962 and featured stints with the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets.

“The best way to describe Dave would be as a hard-luck pitcher on bad-luck teams,” Gaylon Hooper White, a baseball author/historian and a longtime friend of Hillman’s, said. “His record is really deceiving.”

Prior to his death, Hillman was the oldest living New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds player.

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Running back David Montgomery didn’t have anything to say after the Bears’ 27-24 loss to the Falcons on Sunday, and didn’t add much Monday on the fateful final offensive play — a too-high Justin Fields pass that Montgomery had to leap for, but went off his hands and was intercepted by Falcons safety Jaylinn Hawkins with 1:07 left in the game.

“It was a ball, it hit my hands,” Montgomery said. “I could have come down and caught it. Didn’t catch it and they intercepted it.”

That lament has been all too familiar for the Bears, who have lost four consecutive games — the last three by three, one and three points because of offensive failures in the fourth quarter — to fall to 3-8.

Every mistake seems to burn them in those late-game moments. On the play before the interception, Fields ran up the middle and was hit by defensive lineman Grady Jarrett after he slid — aggravating a shoulder injury that has put his status for Sunday’s game against the Jets in jeopardy.

“That was a mistake,” coach Matt Eberflus said Monday. “That was supposed to be a halfback draw. He [Fields] was supposed to hand it off. That was supposed to be D-Mo [Montgomery] going up the middle.”

Eberflus said it was a miscommunication between Fields and Montgomery. That happens, but winning teams make those mistakes in the first quarter, when there’s time to make up for it. The Bears aren’t there yet.

They think they’re close. The next seven weeks could determine how close they are.

“I still feel the same as far as what we can be,” Montgomery said. “We’ve lost a lot of close games that we should have won, where it comes down to five, six, seven plays.”

The Bears have lost seven of their last eight games after a 2-1 start. Six of the eight losses are by eight points or fewer. The only decisive loss was 49-29 to the Cowboys on Oct. 30 at AT&T Stadium.

“Ultimately, we’ve got to do our part,” Montgomery said. “We can’t [have] mental errors — we’re not good enough to do that.”

Montgomery included himself in that assessment. With Khalil Herbert on injured reserve with a hip injury, Montgomery had his most productive game in eight weeks — 121 total yards on 20 touches. He had 17 carries for 67 yards (3.9 average) and three receptions for 54 yards (18.0 average).

It was the most total yards in a game since he had 136 on 17 touches against the Packers in Week 2 (15-122 rushing, 2-14 receiving). In seven games since then — with Herbert emerging as a more productive weapon — Montgomery was averaging 55 total yards per game until Sunday.

But he wasn’t celebrating. He wasn’t even in a good mood. Even on his best play of the day — a 32-yard catch down the right sideline on a perfect throw from Fields, he blamed himself for being lazy on the play-fake that helped force the improvisation.

“I kind of just fell asleep on the detail part of it,” Montgomery said.

That’s where the Bears are right now.

“I have to be better,” said Montgomery, who has rushed for 501 yards on 132 carries (3.8 average) with three touchdowns this season. “I gotta look myself in the mirror and be honest enough with myself and tell myself, ‘I need to improve so I can be better for the guys around me.’ I still think we’ve got a bunch of potential as far as who we can be in the future.”

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Ashley Kj?s took the day off work Monday.

Rather than suiting up for the office, Ashley suited up for the pub; instead of a coffee, he held a beer; and instead of a computer screen, his eyes were on a flatscreen TV in a Near West Side pub.

He was among dozens packed inside The Embassy, 1435 W. Taylor St. in Little Italy on Monday afternoon to watch the U.S. play Wales in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

“I’m here to root for the US team,” said Kj?s, who was wearing a blue team jersey. His wife raised her eyebrows. A friend shook his head.

“But I follow a bunch of the Welsh players,” he added, explaining several players from his favorite professional team, Swansea City, were on Wales.

It was the opening match for both teams.

The half-avowed Welsh supporter was alone in a bar among fans wearing red, white and blue.

Almost all of fans gathered Monday admitted to some reservations to watching the popular game’s signature tournament this year, which has been mired in controversy over Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers and stance on LGBTQ rights.

“I don’t feel great about it,” said Ryan Fischer, 25, a University of Illinois physical therapy student who went to watch the game with her fiance and a classmate.

“You’re stuck in a situation where you want to watch, but it’s hard to fully support with what’s going on.”

A few teams planned to wear armbands to support LGBTQ rights but decided against it after FIFA threatened to punish players, according to the Associated Press.

“I get that you might not be able to share political messages but inclusiveness, wearing a rainbow-colored armband feels like less of a political statement,” said Reid Kiger, 24, Fischer’s fiance.

Any reservations faded, at least for a little while, after Timothy Weah put the U.S. ahead in the first half, bringing the room full of cheering fans to their feet.

“When they scored that goal, I got goosebumps,” said Michael Potsic, 35, who lives in Pilsen, adding that he hadn’t been following the team closely.

“There’s just something about watching the game in a crowded sports bar that’s great,” he said.

The confidence in the room turned to anxiety when Wales tied the score on a penalty kick with less than 10 minutes left in the game.

“There’s no way that was a penalty,” a few yelled.

Kj?s, and his dual sympathies, drew hard stares from his friends.

“I should never have come here,” he said.

Michael Loria is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South and West sides.

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Court Theatre’s stark, riveting production of “The Island” begins with the sound of waves crashing — almost lulling cadences that evoke beauty and tranquility. But when the lights come up in director Gabrielle Randle-Bent’s staging, there’s no water to be seen. We’re in a scorched world of burnt umber sand and concrete slabs bleached to bone. This is Robben Island, the South African prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years incarcerated. Here, the ocean was repurposed as a prison wall.

In the first, wordless scene of the 100-minute, two-man drama by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona, we see two prisoners going through the torturous machinations of the day.

The ear-piercing blast of a whistle sets the pace as shackled convicts Winston (Ronald L. Conner) and John (Kai Ealy) are forced to run in circles and engage in pointless hard labor, shoveling sand from one place to another, sometimes carrying it in their fists. When the shackles come off, the men are pitched in a gladiatorial combat involving a massive stone: One man climbs and pushes, the other tries to avoid getting crushed.

But more than combatants or prisoners, John and Winston are brothers. Their struggle — for survival, for sanity, for keeping their dignity and holding fast to the principles that got them arrested — is compelling in Randle-Bent’s furiously paced production. Key to that struggle: The ancient Greek tragedy “Antigone,” which John and Winston are rehearsing and plan to perform for the other prisoners.

Precisely structured, “The Island” drama plays out in four scenes, each encapsulating a day in the prison, and a scene from “Antigone.”

The prisoners’ choice of a play is apt: In Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone is sentenced to exile by King Creon for the crime of burying her brother, who challenged Creon’s rule. Antigone knows what she’s risking when she insists on burying Polynices, but can’t deny her own moral compass. When we eventually learn why John and Winston are imprisoned, the parallel between their own acts of civil disobedience and those of Antigone are impossible to miss.

The sibling bond between Antigone and Polynices highlights the brotherhood of John and Winston. The dialogue makes the friendship and iron-clad loyalty between the men readily apparent, but Randle-Bent takes it to another level entirely by giving them a silent, ritualistic handshake that is profoundly moving.

Brotherhood, tyranny, unjust incarceration, revolution — there’s much to unpack thematically in “The Island,” but Randle-Bent propels the dialogue with a clarity that shines like a knife and an urgency that can’t be denied.

“Antigone” is a tragedy and “The Island” never leaves the prison, but there’s an overarching sense of desperate optimism that permeates each play. Creativity, solidarity and honor can endure, even in places designed to crush them.

In Court’s production, that endurance is grounded in the herculean, intensely physical performances by Conner and Ealy. Movement director Jacinda Ratcliffe powers the production with grueling physicality requiring some serious athleticism. Conner and Ealy deliver it with prowess while still being wholly believable as prisoners battered within an inch of their lives.

Conner’s Winston has to be sold on playing the titular princess of “Antigone,” his reaction to his costume providing a splash of levity. Ealy’s John is compelling as a passionate, capable thespian who has not been spared many of real life’s brutalities.

Yeaji Kim’s stark set design is dominated by mounds of red sand and a crushing stone slab the men must navigate. Mostly bathed in the harsh, hot colors of fire (impactful lighting design by Jason Lynch) and sun-scoured rock, it’s an effective hellscape. When John and Winston are called to hurl shovelfuls of sand at each other, blinding ropes of red dust swirl across the stage.

In the final moments, we see Winston as Antigone and John as Creon, performing the final scene from Sophocles’ 2,500-year-old play. It’s an acute merger of worlds — the dictums of ancient Greece blending into the punishing world of Robben Island, and today, with eerie impact.

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It wasn’t the answer that every Bulls fan necessarily wanted to hear from Zach LaVine, but it was the answer the two-time All-Star gave.

Asked if he sought out some advice from veteran teammate DeMar DeRozan in the aftermath of his “difficult” late-game Friday benching, LaVine responded, “It’s not a difficult moment for me. I had a bad game. You think it’s a difficult moment? We lost a game. I didn’t have a good game, I didn’t shoot well. It’s not a difficult moment. I got to go home and see my kid. I didn’t have a difficult day.”

Honest? Likely.

The kind of statement that a leader should admit to? That’s up for interpretation.

Whether it was trading teams or going through numerous coaching changes, LaVine’s leadership skills have seemingly been a work in progress. But by all accounts, he has taken the reins in that department the last few years, and while he might not be as hands-on as DeRozan is with the younger players, he is well respected.

Coach Billy Donovan reiterated that on Monday.

“I think guys that are at Zach’s level as a player, the one thing I’ve always admitted, and I think he’s no different, is there’s always areas in the offseason that he looks and tries to get better at,” Donovan said. “One of the things I respect about him in terms of the leadership role is he doesn’t fake it. What I mean by that is try and be someone he’s not in that role. I think one of the main things in a leadership position is you’ve got to be yourself.”

That’s why Donovan and LaVine were able to move on from the coach’s decision to bench him as quickly as they have, with both speaking their minds to each other and pulling no punches.

“There’s a lot of different ways to lead, you know?” Donovan said. “Probably Tim Duncan led different than Kobe Bryant or LeBron James, they’re all different. I think the biggest thing is to be authentic, and real, and genuine, and true to who you are, and I think [LaVine] really tries to do that. I think his voice would always carry weight just because he’s being genuine and true to himself, and I think that’s always been important to him.”

As far as if LaVine did actually have that conversation with DeRozan?

“I didn’t talk to DeMar about anything like that,” LaVine said. “I went home and chilled and digested the loss and got ready for [the Saturday] practice.”

Construction site

Coby White made his return from a thigh contusion on Friday, but Donovan was only able to get him four minutes of work in that loss.

That was stretched out against Boston, but there’s no doubt that it’s going to be a slow process to get him back into the rotation on a full-time basis.

“I thought we had a good practice [Sunday], some contact, so I think that helped him a little bit,” Donovan said of White. “He’s still doing some things after practices as well.

“We certainly have to try and help get him back into the rotation, get his feet back under him. He’s still under the same thing, he’s not going to be able to go long stretches, just to be honest. They want him in these game situation to build up a little more endurance before going too many minutes and putting himself at risk.”

White was averaging just under 22 minutes per game before the injury.

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The Chicago Bears might have a different quarterback next week

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields was injured at the end of the loss to the Atlanta Falcons Sunday. The Bears quarterback was seen carted off the field following the game. Head coach Matt Eberflus said Fields would be day-to-day. It’s possible the Bears could start backup quarterback Trevor Siemian after a report revealed Fields’ injury.

According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Fields sustained a left shoulder dislocation. Rapoport explained that the injury could be season-ending.

That would be a disappointing development for Fields and the Bears. The Bears, especially general manager Ryan Poles, took a risk by putting out a pathetic pass-blocking offensive line. Poles got his quarterback maimed as a result.

Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy took heat for a Fields’ designed run on the final drive when the quarterback looked to be in pain. According to Adam Hoge with NBC Sports, Eberflus said Monday that the play was a miscommunication between Fields and running back David Montgomery.

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The New York Jets may be starting a new Quarterback when they face the Chicago Bears in Week 12

While the Chicago Bears have seemed to find their Quarterback of the future in Justin Fields, the New York Jets are finding themselves on the fence about their second-year Quarterback in Zach Wilson Jr.

New York lost a close game to the New England Patriots 10-3 Sunday and their offense was a mess, totaling just 104 yards of offense in defeat.

Heach Coach Robert Saleh said on Monday that Wilson is no sure thing to start against the Bears this week.

Joe Flacco is the number two quarterback on the Jets roster currently. Flacco won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens all the way back in 2013 and started the first three games of the season for the Jets, totaling 901 passing yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions. Saleh also has fellow Quarterback Mike White on the roster, and no commitment was made to either of the three.

The Jets currently have a record of 6-4 and are just one spot behind the last playoff seed in the AFC. They could look toward the veteran Flacco instead of depending on the young Wilson to win games down the stretch.

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