Carson Brownfield’s actions speak loudly for No. 2 Homewood-Flossmoor, and so do his words.
The 6-3 senior helped keep the Vikings afloat early Saturday against No. 7 DePaul Prep as they adjusted to the Rams’ methodical pace.
And it wasn’t just his scoring and rebounding — he finished with 12 points and seven boards. It also was his vocal leadership in H-F’s 57-46 come-from-behind win at the Steve Pappas Shootout.
“If he starts getting us up and hyped, we’re going to be right behind him,” fellow senior Gianni Cobb said.
It’s a role Brownfield embraces, especially in a tough environment like Saturday, playing an unbeaten team in its own gym.
“I’m just the glue guy,” Brownfield said. “If my energy is down, everybody’s energy is down. My energy is up, everybody picks it up. Doing stuff like that just to keep my team engaged, that’s been my role for a minute.”
The Vikings (14-1) needed to be engaged, and they needed contributions from a number of players to get past the Rams (16-1), who led by as many as 11 in the first half.
That’s when they were most effective at containing Bryce Heard, the state’s top junior. He didn’t take a shot in the first quarter and didn’t score in the first half before finishing with eight points and five rebounds.
But the beauty of the Vikings is they’re not dependent on any one player for offense.
“Everybody [doesn’t] have to go for 25,” Cobb said. “Sometimes I’m gonna have 25, sometimes Bryce is going for 25. We got a lot of weapons.”
On Saturday, the Vikings had six players score at least seven points. Cobb led with 13, followed by Brownfield with 12, Dominic Pangallo with nine (all on three-pointers), Heard and Donald Hagemaster with eight each and Jayden Tyler with seven.
“I think our depth is our biggest strength,” H-F coach Jamere Dismukes said. “Being able to come off the bench with three, four guys who can really play and really produce ... our strength is in our numbers and we talk about that every day.”
DePaul led 30-21 after Jaylan McElroy’s steal and jam at 6:18 of the third quarter. But H-F then went on a 20-3 surge spanning the third and fourth quarters to go up 41-33 with 6:39 remaining.
True to form, five Vikings scored during the run and three — Pangallo (two), Heard and Cobb — combined for four three-pointers. The Rams didn’t get closer than six the rest of the way.
“We knew they were going to come out playing a slow pace,” Cobb said. “We just kept playing together and made open shots.”
“We just had to ... dial down and do what we do: lock in on defense, the little stuff, running our gameplan,” Brownfield said.
McElroy led DePaul with a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds. Rashaun Porter had eight points and 10 rebounds, and PJ Chambers scored 10.
The Rams were without one starter, Rob Walls (concussion), and lost another, Jonas Johnson to an apparent ankle injury in the first quarter.
“I thought we hung tough in the first half,” DePaul coach Tom Kleinschmidt said. “And then their depth hurt us in the second half — and fatigue, excellent players, good coaching on their staff. We were pretty thin in the second half [but] that’s not why we lost.”