Jan. 22--The Morgan Park-Simeon basketball game that was postponed last week has been rescheduled for Jan. 28 and will be played at 4:30 p.m. at Morgan Park.
A member of the Morgan Park coaching staff confirmed to the Tribune that the "Battle of Vincennes," which had been scheduled for last Saturday at Brooks, will instead be a true home game for the Mustangs despite the small size of the high school's gym.
Morgan Park parent Tiffany Burrell, the mother of basketball player Romelo Burrell who has spearheaded efforts to get the game moved to Morgan Park, later confirmed the date and time.
The Sun-Times first reported the story.
Parents of Morgan Park basketball players called for their sons to boycott the Simeon game last week unless it was played on campus. They later agreed to postpone the game when Morgan Park principal Carolyn Epps agreed to meet with them Saturday. That meeting went well, according to Morgan Park parents, but the location of the Simeon game remained in limbo.
Morgan Park's gym can hold about 250 people, far less than the 1,200-person capacity of Simeon's gym. Simeon coach Robert Smith has said that about 400 people were turned away after this season's first meeting between the schools at Simeon sold out in December.
But the Morgan Park parents said the team is a central part of the community, and the desire for the contest to take place at Morgan Park should trump the desire to maximize attendance. Brooks' gym can hold about four times as many people as Morgan Park's gym, but parents said many students would not be able to attend the game if it were to take place three miles from campus.
Morgan Park players, coaches and parents have long said the school needs a new gym for physical education classes and other school functions, on top of making it easier for the Mustangs to host marquee games.
"I was happy everything worked out," Tiffany Burrell said. "(Epps) did due diligence and made sure everything would be safe at the game on Thursday. That's what took so long before we could announce to the media."
Mike Helfgot contributed to this report.
