The last time Highland Park...

...played in this gym was on February 15, when the Giants lost to Lake Zurich, 49-45. Since then, HP has been on a tear -- going 5-1 -- and tonight find themselves in the Lake Zurich Sectional semifinals against undefeated Fremd (27-0). Can the Giants pull off an upset and earn a birth in the finals against Stevenson? 

To get here, Highland Park (21-8) beat Prospect, St. Patrick, Lyons, Maine South and Libertyville (twice). Besides Lake Zurich, the Giants fell to St. Viator, Conant and New Trier. They split with Deerfield and Lake Forest. 

Of those teams, only Maine South is still alive in the postseason. 

While I haven't seen Highland Park play this year, I have seen Fremd -- and, if anything, they're underrated. Can the Giants be the first (and only) team to beat the Vikings? Maybe. But to do so, coach Paul Harris will need to get the most out of David Sachs, Tommy Sutker, Jordan Krawitz, Luke Norcia and Adam Wolf. 

I'll be there and live-tweeting the game @BoringOldWhtGuy. 

P. S. As for last night's game between St. Viator and Stevenson, all I can say is: Wow! (You can read all about it here and here.) I had been to three Stevenson games this year -- against Zion-Benton, Marian Catholic and Simeon -- and this was by far the sharpest I've ever seen them. According to Mike Helfgot of the Trib (my emphasis): 

Jalen Brunson had 34 points, six assists and six straight 3-pointers.

And from Michael O'Brien of the Sun-Times:

It wasn’t just Brunson who was hot from outside. The Patriots shot 12-for-21 from three-point range.

If the Patriots play like this against Whitney Young next Friday in the State semifinals, then they'll win the 4A championship the next night.