Getting a late start does little to stop Oak Lawn’s Ayham Salah against Rich Township. ‘He had a look in his eye.’

Senior guard Ayham Salah knew it was an important practice for Oak Lawn.

Salah was ready to go for the 9:30 a.m. start, but at the last minute, his ride bailed.

“Practice started at 9:30 and at 9:28, I started walking to school,” he said. “It took about 25 minutes to get there.”

The punishment for Salah was having to sit out a portion of the first quarter Wednesday night against the host Raptors in the Class 4A Rich Township Regional semifinals.

While Salah was on the bench, coach Jason Rhodes saw something he liked.

“He had a look in his eye,” Rhodes said. “He was very serious, and he came out firing.”

Did he ever. Salah scored 21 points to help the eighth-seeded Spartans roll to a 71-65 victory over ninth-seeded Rich Township in Richton Park.

Robert Wagner added 13 points, Corey Lee had 11 and Eduardo Chiquito shot 9 of 10 from the free-throw line for Oak Lawn (21-10), which faces top-seeded Kenwood (25-6) at 7 p.m. Friday for the regional title.

Kenwood beat 16th-seeded Shepard 94-43 in the other semifinal. Payton Crims led the Astros (16-17) with 12 points and Kylan Rogers added 10.

Freshman guard Jamson Coulter led Rich Township (19-13) with 18 points, while Samar Bures and Avery Hearn each had 15.

The 6-foot Salah ignited the Spartans when he came into the game, hitting a 3-pointer and a buzzer-beating layup to end the first quarter in cutting the deficit to 14-13.

“Once I hit that first three, it’s over,” Salah said. “And when I hit one on the first shot I shoot, that’s when I know it’s going to be a real good day.”

Salah turned a steal into a layup and nailed another 3-pointer to open the second quarter, lifting the Spartans to a four-point lead.

Wagner was glad to see his teammate having that type of game.

“He brought a lot of energy into the game hitting his shots and hitting his threes,” Wagner said of Salah. “He didn’t make may turnovers.

“He brought us a lot of juice on the floor. He’s also the first guy to come up to you if you make a mistake and encourage you.”

Wagner and Rhodes were both happy to see the free throws that kept the Spartans ahead in the second half. They finished 26 of 30 from the line.

“The last two practices have been our best practices for free throws, and that’s been helping a lot,” Wagner said. “Everyone was hitting their free throws.”

“We actually lost a game against T.F. North that we would have won had we shot three throws the same way we did for this game,” Rhodes said. “We shot 45% in that game.”

The Spartans are going to need a lot of things to go right Friday, considering how Kenwood is an imposing team.

“We’ve been doing some preparing in practice against teams with length and it’s hard for us to simulate,” Rhodes said. “We just have to play our game and see what happens.”

“They play great defense,” Wagner said. “And they can play strong on offense. I think it will be a great game.”

As the season is winding down, Salah realizes he will have to make a college choice soon.

The three-sport athlete is receiving football interest from North Central College, the NCAA Division III national champion, as well as from DuPage, the NJCAA national champ.

Morton and Moraine Valley have also shown interest in him for baseball.

“My first loves are basketball and baseball,” Salah said. “Wherever I go, I will play just one sport. One school said I could play both baseball and basketball but that won’t work.

“It will be a tough decision. It will be hard giving one of them up.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.