Demarius Jacobs might be the best player in Chicago or even the state of Illinois that nobody's heard of. The ultra-athletic SIU commit has led Uplift (small Chicago northside public school) to prominence over his high school career.
His steal and game winner (15 points) at Lincoln Park HS gave Uplift a perfect 10-0 record to capture Red North conference title (highest division). They move to 20-4 overall, headling into postseason play.
While Chicago's media focuses on stronger conferences (South, West) and bigger schools (suburbs), Jacobs has quietly been putting up Chicago-area Player of the Year type numbers.
The Northside crowd was on fire all night with the tiny gym reaching capacity an hour before tipoff of the varsity game.
While Demarius' younger brother and backcourt teammate Markese Jacobs received loads of attention with his commitment to Kansas over the summer, it's been Demarius who's led Uplift in scoring, rebounds and blocks in nearly every single game this season.
The other unsung hero for Uplift all season (in addition to Demarius) has been 6'5 junkyard dog (and shooter) Toraze Dobbs. Putting up big numbers all season, 2018 Dobbs scored 24 points to go with 12 rebounds vs Lincoln Park. Unstoppable down low, he was arguably the difference in the game.
2017 Hamza Gocobija (17 points) and transfer Bryce McGill (11 points) led host Lincoln Park and PG Marco flashed some nice ball-handling moves all game.

Ballislife will continue following Uplift and the Jacobs brothers in their quest to win a Chicago city title and Illinois 2A state title.
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