By Tim Penman
Clarification: An earlier version of this story incorrectly characterized Nojel Eastern as the last Evanston player since Everette Stephens in 1984 to get offers from NCAA Division I schools. Stephens should have been described as the last player to garner so much attention from Division I schools.
Until the age of eight, Nojel Eastern’s mom would school him in one-on-one basketball games on the lakefront court at Loyola Park.
“I beat him quite a few times, I made him cry a few times,” Tamala Reed said. “When he figured it out that he was faster than his mom, that he could shoot it, that’s when I couldn’t beat him anymore.”
The Evanston sophomore guard is now 6-foot-5, 10 inches taller than his mom and is considered by experts to be arguably the best sophomore basketball player in Illinois, the most highly recruited from Evanston in 31 years.
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