Little Bobek Keeps Coming Up Big for Andrew Boys Basketball

Big guy. Little guy.

Andrew’s 6-foot-6 junior forward Jubril Adekoya is hard to miss on the basketball floor. He scored 18 points and pulled down 16 rebounds in the Thunderbolts’ 53-43 victory over Sandburg on Tuesday night.

While he was throwing around his weight under the basket, the T-Bolts called on their little guy—Mike Bobek—to make things happen on the perimeter. He is the 6-foot senior guard who lives in the shadows of Adekoya and many of his other teammates.

Not on this occasion.

Bobek played pick-pocket in the first quarter against Sandburg, turning a steal into one-man fastbreak and layup at the other end. He sank two free throws after Sandburg’s Ken Payonk was called for a technical foul at the end of the first half.

Bobek’s work at the line extended the T-Bolts’ lead to 38-28.

Then, late in the fourth quarter, he powered through Sandburg’s pressure defense. Bobek pushed the ball into the corner. Alex Zappavigna played the role of middle man on a bing-bang-bong play that ended with Adekoya’s thunderous two-hand slam dunk.

The Adekoya dunk served as the exclamation point on Andrew’s 20^th victory. The T-Bolts reached the milestone for the second time in the 35-year history of boys basketball at the school.

“Yeah, that gave us the momentum for the end of the game,” Bobek said. “They had guys pressing. We just had to get past them and we had the advantage down the court. Jubril knew what to do with it.”

Just like Bobek knows where he stands.

“We have a bunch of talent on our team,” he said. “We all know our role. We know what we’re expected to do. For me, it’s bringing the ball up the court and playing defense. But, if the points are there, I’ll take it.”

He finished with 10 points, four assists and no turnovers as the T-Bolts (20-1) took care of business against their district rival in front of a rocking crowd at the Thunderdome. He was one of three players to reach double figures.

Glorind Lisha, a 6-3 junior, made 6-of-8 free throws and added 11 points. Many of his opportunities come as a direct result of Bobek’s work distributing the ball.

“I really think that Mike Bobek is—everybody would say that Jubril (Adekoya) is the key to the team—obviously,” Andrew coach Mike O’Halloran said. “But 1A key is Mike Bobek. He’s so underrated. He does all the grunt work and the dirty work. He does a great job. He runs it for us and he plays tremendous defense also.”

He is the little guy that makes the T-Bolts go—has been for a long time.

“We were kind of expecting 20 wins,” Bobek said. “Because sophomore year, we had the same team, minus Jubril (Adekoya) and Glorind (Lisha). And, so with those two, we should be able to get the same amount of wins.

“It feels good to get those 20. We’ve just got to keep going.”