Homewood-Flossmoor’s Bryce Heard soaked it all in.
Shortly after hugging his teammates and then enjoying a huge embrace with his mother, Patricia Dunlap, the junior guard/forward talked about what he loves about playing basketball.
“Stuff like this,” he said, referring to the postgame celebration. “Winning. I want to be a winner. I want my legacy to be a winner. This is the biggest thing. I love competing. I’m in the gym nonstop.
“It’s just fun to do this every day.”
Heard had fun Friday night, scoring 19 points in leading top-seeded H-F to a 61-50 victory over third-seeded Bloom in the Class 4A Rich Township Sectional championship game in Richton Park.
Carson Brownfield added 17 points and Jayden Tyler had 12 for the Vikings (30-4), who play at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the UIC Supersectional in Chicago against Curie (31-2), a 66-59 winner over Simeon.
Bloom (19-10) was led by Elijah Lovemore with 24 points, including a wild 3-pointer while he was falling that beat the halftime buzzer to pull the Blazing Trojans within 30-25. Jaden Clark added 12.
It’s the ninth sectional title in program history for H-F but only the first since 2006.
“I wasn’t even born yet,” Heard said of the last time that the Vikings won a sectional. “We had a talk about that before the game. We just came out here and got the job done.”
H-F may not have won a sectional recently, but Heard had. As a freshman, he won at Kenwood in Chicago, then transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida for his sophomore season.
“It’s so fun and great to be able to win it with this group,” Heard said of the Vikings. “Coach JD (Jamere Dismukes) has done a great job with us all year.”
Heard has been stepping it up in the postseason. He said he was motivated Friday by “selection and teams like that. It gave me motivation to win it, and to go out and win a state championship.”
He was referring to being left off a Chicago daily newspaper’s all-area team.
“He’s hurt right now that he didn’t make the all-area team,” Dismukes said of Heard. “He’s taking it out on everybody else. I like that for him.
“I thought he should have made that team, and he wants to prove everybody wrong. Kudos to him.”
Brownfield, who scored nine points in the second half, made four free throws in the fourth quarter to keep H-F ahead of the Blazing Trojans. He praised his teammate first and foremost.
“Bryce is definitely doing everything right,” Brownfield said. “He’s taking great shots. He’s being a leader at a young age. He’s doing exactly what we expected of him.
“He’s got a lot of potential, and it’s great to see him doing what he’s doing.”
The Vikings, who won supersectional games in 1967, 1985 and 2004 to reach state, are maintaining a focus on going back again.
“I’m happy and blessed,” Dismukes said. “But you won’t see me smiling a lot because, honestly, it’s a Kobe Bryant quote — ‘I’m not finished.’ I want to win state.
“I’ll smile after March 9. That’s when you will see me smile.”
Dismukes is referencing the date of the state championship games at the State Farm Center in Champaign.
Brownfield, meanwhile, said he likes the Vikings’ chemistry.
“This team is very energetic, and we’re all brothers,” Brownfield said. “We’re playing the sport that we all love together. That’s a bonus.”
Heard kept telling his teammates afterward, “We’re not done yet. We’re not done yet.”
If defense does win championships, count Heard in as a believer for H-F’s chances of winning the first state title in program history.
“It all starts with our defense, and our defense then leads to our offense,” Heard said. “I think that’s the ingredient for a winning team.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.