There was a lot for Homewood-Flossmoor boys basketball to celebrate during its SouthWest Suburban Conference opener against Lincoln-Way Central Dec. 4.
On the night the Vikings opened the home slate, they unveiled the program’s first state championship record board. Coach Jamere Dismukes pulled the rope to remove the curtain on the placard that now hangs on the east wall of the gym.
“(That title) means more than any individual accolade I could ever get,” Dismukes said. “That right there is priceless and those don’t come around often.”
The 72-53 win was also the 100th in Dismuke’s career. He’s in his third season at H-F after stops at Rich East and Hyde Park.
“I think about all the coaches that I’ve been around,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll ever hear me talk about myself in any interview. It’s about us. It’s about a family and without those guys we wouldn’t have (the championship) and I wouldn’t have (the 100 wins).”
Dismukes was given balloons and a framed and engraved photo to commemorate the night after the game. He took pictures with his team.
“It’s amazing to play for a guy like (Dismukes), somebody who actually cares about you and for what you do. He ain’t going to sugar coat it. He’s going to tell you the real and that’s what a man needs,” senior JD Tyler said. “I love playing for him because he’s going to get you right in your spot.”
Tyler, the starting point guard, is in his third season being coached by Dismukes.
He looked like the team’s leader in every sense, pacing the Vikings with 24 points while grabbing six rebounds, five steals and tossing out four assists. Had a few teammates finished plays, he’d have had a handful more assists.
“He’s doing a great job in that new role. He’s never in his career had a role where he’s the lead guy,” Dismukes said. “It’s good to see him able to be aggressive and be happy and to see the team knowing he’s one of our guys and to feed him the ball.”
Tyler was assertive and pointed in his direction on the floor. Teammates seemed to defer to him. He calmed things down when necessary and pushed things when there were opportunities.
“I’m being aggressive but also making it happen for my teammates, getting Arden (Eaves) involved, getting everybody else involved,” he said. “They trust me to help them, to lead them. That feels good.”
Eaves scored 17, including a couple highlight-reel dunks, after a slow start.
It’s the H-F defense, though, that players say will be the team’s hallmark this season. The Vikings were aggressive on the ball and in help.
At one point spanning halftime, LWC went almost eight minutes without scoring. The Knights only had two points in the second quarter.
“That’s what we pride ourselves on. If you ever come to one of our practices, first thing we do is we stretch and then we run and then we play defense, right after defense we do a little skillwork, right after skillwork we do a little offense,” Dismukes said. “We put that in the priorities of how we want to play.”
That defense will be necessary in the coming weeks. The schedule doesn’t let up. H-F will face Whitney Young in the Chicago Elite Classic Dec. 7 at Credit Union One Arena.
After a couple of conference home games, the Vikings will play St. Laurence in the Team Rose Shootout. They’ll close December with the Big Dipper at Rich.
