When Cregier basketball coach Bob Crosby calls on his team to practice its half-court offense, the Tigers quickly spread themselves throughout the length and width of Cregier`s gym. Crosby nods his approval.
Huh?
The Tigers don`t run much half-court offense in their own gym because they only have half a court to run an offense in.
The old McKinley Junior High School gym Cregier plays in is 75 feet long. Not bad. The playing surface, though, is only a little more than 27 feet wide, hardly enough to spread out an offense. A regulation high school basketball court is 84-by-50.
”We can`t run many plays in this gym,” said Crosby. ”Mostly we just throw the ball up and go for it.”
The Cregier gym is called the ”box.” Sometimes it`s said affectionately, sometimes not. It`s short for cracker box. Sharpen the pencils, Mr. Scorekeeper, points are going to pile up, pronto.
”We`ve had some NBA games in there,” said former coach Al Embry.
”Nothing bizarre, we`ve just had some big-time people in there and some big-time scores.”
Big time indeed.
Ten times in 1984-85, Cregier or an opponent scored more than 100 points in the gym. Scores like 142-96, 119-106 and the 143-76 victory the Tigers posted last season over Juarez are common. This year, the 100-point barrier has been crashed in all five games played at Cregier.
The 14 highest-scoring high school games in Illinois were played at Cregier, including the record 255 points collected by Cregier and Near North in 1982. The Tigers won that game 138-117.
Cregier, which has shuffled between the Public League`s Red and Blue Section, plays only its divisional games on its home court. Crosby hopes to someday schedule some games at nearby Malcolm X College.
”We used to schedule teams to come in here and first they would accept until they came in and took a look,” said James Moss, Creiger`s athletic director and former coach. ”We had some spectacular teams come in here and we`d run them off the court. The message got around that you don`t want to play in there.”
Six years ago, the Tigers moved to their new location at 2040 West Adams, from the old Cregier High School on Grenshaw. The address changed, the shape of the gym changed from short and fat to long and narrow, but the cozy conditions remain.
In some ways, however, the current gym is downright roomy compared to the 52-by-38 court Tiger teams used to play on. There, the free-throw circles intersected the midcourt line. But that floor didn`t have an overhanging balcony with a banked track like the McKinley gym. The balcony serves as an effective sixth defensive man, blocking jump shots from the corner.
In the old gym, players, coaches and floor-level spectators had a clear view of the scoreboard. Now, balcony-level spectators often block the scoreboard, forcing floor-level fans to either step onto the court to check the score or holler to the scorer`s bench.
”I could play all day in that gym,” said Moss, who has been at Cregier for 22 years. ”You never had to run, I never got tired. Take two dribbles and you had a decent shot.”
That is still the basic philosophy at Cregier.
”There`s not much coaching you can do when you go there,” said Marshall coach Luther Bedford, whose team beat Cregier 113-89. ”The floor`s just too small. The only thing I`m glad of is there are no physical hazards so kids won`t get hurt.”
Cregier senior William Mason loves playing on his home court. He also loves watching visiting players get their first look at the gym.
”They always laugh when they come in,” said Mason. ”They say, `This is the gym? My room`s bigger than this.` ”
”They`ll say, `Are we going to play in here?` ” added senior captain Louis Browder. ” `We ain`t got no room. When we shoot, it`ll hit the track.` ”
Sometimes it does. But usually, when anybody shoots, the ball hits the bottom of the net. There`s no such thing as a safe lead when the press is on. ”Last year, we were down 22 points against Austin at the half, but we told the kids, `Hey, we can score 20 points in 2 minutes,` which is exactly what we did,” said Crosby. ”We wound up winning by 30 points.
”Most teams feel like if they get up by 20 or 30 points in here, they`ve got it made. But we know better.”
”I never had to tell a guy to shoot the ball in either gym,” said Embry. ”Everybody was a great shooter. Plus, we`ve always had a defensive advantage because of the passing lanes.”
Why?
”There are no passing lanes,” said Embry.
For 20 years, Moss has wished for more space. For all those years and more, he and the Tigers have made do with what they`ve had. Still, it`s hard sometimes not to get wistful.
”We can stand in the window and look at Crane two blocks away,” said Moss. ”We`re suffering here for facilities and they`re not. Sometimes that hurts. That`s the only problem with this place.”
