Boys Basketball: Niles North posts 10th straight win

• Reprints

1/27/12 Skokie Highland Park's Ti Greenberg (3) tries to defend against Niles North's Malachi Nix (2) during their basketball game on Friday, Jan. 27th. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 3, 2012 8:25AM

In the world of boys basketball, Niles North is certainly a team trending upward.

A 50-40 victory over Highland Park at home on Friday was the Vikings’ 10th straight, and kept Niles North (15-5, 5-2) tied with Glenbrook North atop the CSL North standings, a full game ahead of Highland Park and Maine West.

During a two-week stretch, the Vikings defeated both GBN and HP, avenging both conference losses in the process. This month, North also expects to gain the services of talented Evanston transfer Lorenzo Dillard, a junior who’s scheduled to play in his first game, against Maine East, on Feb. 10.

The Vikings looked to be rebuilding following the graduation of superstar Abdel Nader, now burning the nets at Northern Illinois. But North has managed to stay extremely relevant.

“(Friday’s first-place showdown) is what we want. We want to play meaningful games during the regular season. Not every team gets that opportunity,” said North head coach Glenn Olson. “We’re going to take advantage of it. We talk to our kids about wanting to ‘buy’ more big games, and give our kids the best opportunity when late February and March come around, preparing them for those (postseason) situations.”

If postseason success comes down to guard play, Niles North will turn to the capable hands of Malachi Nix. The 5-foot-6 playmaker/scorer was at the top of his game Friday. Despite injuring his hip early in the third quarter, the senior scored 28 points, including eight during a decisive 13-2 run late inthat spilled into fourth quarter. The Vikings trailed 30-24 before that spurt.

“It was nice having No. 2 on our side. He hit some big shots,” Olson said about Nix, who collected treys late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. “Malachi is outstanding. He’s a Division I player, the real deal. But he hasn’t had a real great shooting night in a while. He came out and had one. It was nice. He hit shots at the right time.”

With Highland Park playing a tight zone defense, points were hard to come by. But Nix contributed four three-pointers in all, connecting from well behind the arc in the waning seconds of the first and third quarters.

“I practice those shots a lot ... in the gym,” Nix said. “Coach helps me. My teammates help me. They find me. I brought it to the game, and I knocked them down.”

Junior Billy Voitik added eight points for Niles North, and junior B.J. Beckford (6 points) had two important, second-half three pointers for the Vikings, who played without regular starter Jaylen White. Senior starter Mychael Henley also spent much of the night in foul trouble.

But Niles North showed its depth, as senior Ali Rafiq started and played solid minutes, and junior Avery Wells scored five key fourth-quarter points.

The Vikings expect to get even deeper in a few weeks, when Dillard becomes eligible. The 6-1 Dillard has been practicing with Niles North, and was hoping to have his eligibility reinstated as early as Wednesday.

Nix calls Dillard, “a great player who is unselfish and can do it all.”

Olson, too, is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Dillard, but cautions against getting overly excited about adding a player so late in the season.

“I think (Dillard) is a very talented kid, incredibly unselfish,” Olson said. “He’s a strong kid. He plays very hard defensively on the ball. He’s got great instincts and likes to play fast. He’s got a great motor and wants to go out and compete. The way we play, the more depth we have, the better. But it’s going to be a huge adjustment. People are so excited because they’ve been waiting so long (for him). But at that point, we will have played 22 games. At this time of year, we are using practice time wisely and integrating him more into the first group.”

The Vikings were scheduled to face Maine South on Tuesday, and will host Maine West at 7:30 p.m. Friday.