Middle man

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers STANDING TALL—Junior Kareem Maddox led the Tri-Valley League with 90 blocks during the regular season. On Friday night at OPHS, Maddox and the third-seeded Eagles will open the Division IIIA playoffs. Somebody owes Kareem Maddox a steak dinner.

That’s the deal on the Oak Park boys’ basketball team—if a player gets 17 or more rebounds in a single game, they get steak.

Well, it’s been over a month since Maddox’s 21-rebound performance against St. Bonaventure, and still no steak dinner.

“I think they just say that so you go for it,” Maddox said following Tuesday’s practice. “Then you’re happy about it. You’re happy enough not to need the steak dinner. I’m satisfied enough with (the rebounds).”

Maddox might be satisfied, but he’s still hungry, because he’s got a lot to prove.

The 6-foot-6 junior center will play the first postseason game of his high school career Friday night at home.

In his first year with the Eagles’ varsity squad, Maddox has rapidly become a vital part of the team’s multi-faceted offensive attack. Furthermore, the defense he provides is essential to Oak Park’s success, OPHS head coach Ed Chevalier said.

“He’s definitely the defensive catalyst for our team,” Chevalier said. “Our guys on the perimeter work pretty hard, but I can’t tell you how many times Kareem has saved the day by coming out and blocking a shot, igniting a fast break.

“(Maddox) has done at the defensive end what (senior forward Brian Lantos) does for us on the offensive end,” the coach said. “He creates a spark. He creates a certain amount of energy and enthusiasm that makes him unique. He’s a unique player.”

Some of Maddox’s regularseason stats are phenomenal.

In addition to his 21-rebound game, Maddox has recorded five or more blocks nine times this season. He had eight blocks in the regular-season finale against Carpinteria, has five double-digit rebound games, and has reached double-digits in points in eight of Oak Park’s last nine contests.

In 27 games this season Maddox, who led the Tri-Valley with 90 blocks (3.5 per game), never fouled out.

Those aren’t bad credentials for a recently-turned 16-year-old who couldn’t make the varsity squad as a sophomore and didn’t get called up to sit on the Eagles’ bench during last year’s run to the Division IIIA championship game at The Pond in Anaheim.

“I was really disappointed about not making the varsity last year. Frosh/Soph freshman year, I was disappointed about that,” Maddox said.

“So I decided to apply myself.”

Maddox had always been a tremendous athlete, but he’d never focused his athletic attention exclusively on basketball.

He ran cross-country during his first two years of high school, and competed on Oak Park’s track and field team, where he won the high-jump event at the Ventura County Championships as a sophomore.

Last spring, however, Maddox decided to focus on basketball.

He began to work on his offensive skills with Oak Park teacher and coach Matt Micek. Maddox’s father, Alan, encouraged his son to make 200 baskets a day, a feat Maddox said he accomplished between four and six times per week during the offseason.

With the physical tools in place—height, long arms, tremendous leaping ability—and a newfound determination to improve as a basketball player, Maddox began to hit his stride.

Chevalier said Maddox’s hard work began to show as the season approached.

“He’s a junior. He’s really kind of a babe when it comes to basketball,” Chevalier said. “The more he plays and the more he exposes himself to the game, the better he’s going to get. The sky’s the limit with that kid.”

Not only is Maddox blossoming on the court, he’s excelling in the classroom as well.

He currently carries a 4.1 GPA and is editor-and-chief of Oak Park’s student newspaper, “The Talon.”

“Journalism’s my thing,” Maddox said. “It’s a lot of fun, a pleasure.”

A coach from Cornell University recently called Maddox to let him know they were interested in his skills. It was the first time he’d been contacted by a college basketball program.

“He hadn’t seen me play yet, we hadn’t been able to send the tapes,” Maddox said. “But I guess he’d heard about me. That was pretty exciting.”

While the long-term future looks bright for Maddox, it’s the short-term that he’s concerned with.

Oak Park opens the Division IIIA playoffs Friday evening at home against the winner of Wednesday night’s wild-card game between Lawndale and Cathedral.

The Eagles enter the postseason as the third seed in Division IIIA, which, according to Chevalier, is loaded from top to bottom and could easily be the toughest division in the entire Southern Section.

With a roster that includes eight seniors, many of whom played in last season’s championship game loss to current top seed, Centennial Compton, Maddox knows this may very well be his squad’s best chance to raise a CIF banner at Oak Park.

“(The seniors) have worked all year to make me better,” Maddox said. “They’ve beat me up in practice, pushed me around. So I owe it to them to go out and play my hardest and help get them where they want to go.”

Win or lose, when it’s all said and done this season, perhaps Maddox will finally get that steak dinner he so richly deserves.

“You got that right,” Chevalier said. “(Assistant coach Andrew Borg) is saving money right now for that.”