Allen, Boilers roll in second half for third straight win

BRADLEY — Through a half of Friday’s home game against Lincoln-Way Central, Bradley-Bourbonnais boys basketball coach Ryan Kemp wasn’t quite sure what to feel. Sure, his Boilers were executing their gameplan on both sides of the floor, putting a lid on the Knights' basket while creating their own open looks on the offensive end, but they missed their first five free throws and shot just 9-for-25 (36%) from the field, allowing the Knights to hang around at a 21-9 deficit at the break.

That lead shrunk to 23-15 as the Knights started to heat up early in the third, but the Boilers finally put it all together, going on a 20-3 run to take command on their senior night to earn a 54-37 win.

Bradley-Bourbonnais (15-7, 8-4 SouthWest Suburban Conference) won their third straight game and avenged a 56-52 loss at Lincoln-Way Central. The Knights fell to 17-7 and 7-5 in the SWSC.

“I was conflicted in the first half,” Kemp said. " ... We played well at times, but missed some easy baskets and missed [five] free throws in a row at one point. I’m really happy for the guys, we worked really hard on this gameplan all week, and they executed it beautifully."

Leading the way for the Boilers was again was 6-foot-11 senior Nick Allen, who recorded 21 points and 18 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the year. After a mild seven-point first half, the future Illinois State University Redbird exploded in the second half, where a pair of rim-wrecking dunks highlighted his 7-for-8 effort from the field in the last two quarters.

Kemp said that as the Boilers continued to push the ball the way they were trying to, they were able to find Allen in advantageous situations without the consistent double teams he’s been seeing. And when he did see them, it was ball movement on the perimeter, as well as decision-making from his teammates on when to shoot and when to kick it back to him, that got both he and the team going.

“A lot of gameplanning, and just getting comfortable, people doing what they’re supposed to do and getting up good shots,” Allen said led to the big second half. “They ran a lot of double teams off of man[to-man defense], so we were just able to move the ball around.”

Fellow senior Gavin Kohl was usually the one finding Allen, tallying a team-high seven assists to go along with seven points and four rebounds. Junior Kobe Lawrence chipped in eight points, three assists and a rebound as the Boilers overcame their slow offensive start to go 12-for-19 (63%) from the field in the second half.

With just a few weeks until the postseason, Allen said the Boilers need to keep the momentum they’ve built with their three-game winning streak and be at their best come regional time.

“We’ve just gotta keep getting better and better, and peak at the end of the year,” Allen said. “We hit a little lull here a couple weeks ago, lost a few straight, but we’ve bounced back.”

The Boilers will look to make it four in a row when they face Mt. Zion at the Normal West Midwest Crossroads Shootout. They return to SWSC play Tuesday with a 7 p.m. road game at Sandburg.