Morgan Park, Simeon basketball face off after original game postponed

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Simeon Career Academy and Morgan Park High School basketball teams are facing off Thursday afternoon - several weeks after their original game was postponed because Morgan Park's gym was considered too small.

It's the biggest game of the season that almost didn't happen. Morgan Park is currently ranked first in the state and Simeon is ranked third.

Morgan Park plays in a gym that holds about 250 spectators - but the game is expected to draw about 10 times that amount, so Chicago Public Schools had planned to move the game to a neutral site with a larger gym.

Morgan Park parents then threatened to have their players boycott the game, saying that the location change was unfair. Parents met with the principal and they agreed to play at Morgan Park. In the meantime, they say they are working towards getting a new gym and athletic facility built.

"Let us get a state-of-the-art gymnasium with all of those things - we can do track, we can do swimming, we can do basketball. We can do everything if we have the adequate space. I believe all of the other schools have those things - so we just want them for our children," said Tiffany Burrell, a Morgan Park parent.

The game is actually the second meeting of the two teams this season - the first was held at Simeon earlier this year, which drew over 1,200 people.

All tickets to the game were sold out in advance, and extra security is on-hand to make sure things go smoothly.

And while the two teams battle it out on the court, some Morgan Park parents say they feel like they already won a victory off the court.

"We feel like we're making history because the game hasn't been here in a long time," said Darlene Randall, a Morgan Park parent.