Herald-News Boys Basketball Notebook: Lincoln-Way East backcourt has Griffins flying high

A lot of basketball teams have a pair of quality scoring options. The better teams seem to have more than two featured scorers.

Consider Lincoln-Way East in the latter group.

The Griffins have a three-headed monster in the backcourt with junior Brent Taylor and sophomores BJ Powell and Karson Thomas. Powell, a silky-smooth lefty, has already attracted attention from several Division I colleges, with Thomas and Taylor starting to receive looks as well.

“We don’t care who it is that scores, as long as the ball goes through the net. Nobody on this team is selfish.”

—  Brent Taylor, Lincoln-Way East junior

On Tuesday night, the trio showed its stuff in a 79-52 win over Lincoln-Way West.

Taylor led the Griffins with 22 points, while Thomas had 19 and Powell 18. Taylor and Thomas each had 13 in the second half, while Powell had 11 as East rallied from a 35-33 halftime deficit to dominate the second half and improve to 12-5 on the season.

Perhaps the most difficult part of having three such scorers on the floor is finding enough shots for all of them. They seem to have that figured out, though.

“At the start of the game, we all take our shots, however they come in our offense,” Taylor said. “After that, we figure out who has the hot hand and try to keep feeding them. We don’t care who it is that scores, as long as the ball goes through the net. Nobody on this team is selfish.

“I really like playing with them [Powell and Thomas]. The crazy thing is that I still have one more year with them after this, and they have two more years. We’re really starting to click now, and we are going to keep getting better.”

Postseason assignments

The IHSA has released the sectional assignments for the postseason.

In Class 4A, Bolingbrook and the four Plainfield schools – Central, East, North and South – will play in the East Aurora Sectional. Regional hosts in that sectional are Yorkville, Oswego East, Metea Valley and Downers Grove North. Minooka will be in Sub-Sectional A of the Pekin Sectional. Regional hosts in that sub-sectional are East Moline United and Normal Community.

In the Rich Township Sectional will be Lincoln-Way East, Joliet Central, Joliet West, Lockport, Lincoln-Way Central, Lincoln-Way West and Romeoville. Regional hosts will be Lincoln-Way West, Stagg, Thornwood and Andrew.

In Class 3A, Lemont and Providence Catholic are in the Thornton Sectional. Regional hosts are TF North, Brother Rice, Marian Catholic and Evergreen Park. Morris is in Sub-Sectional B of the Pontiac Sectional. Regional hosts are Sterling and Streator, with Kankakee the early favorite to draw the No. 1 seed.

In Class 2A, Reed-Custer, Coal City, Joliet Catholic Academy, Peotone and Wilmington are in Sub-Sectional B of the Clifton Central Sectional. Regional hosts are Manteno and Westmont. Seneca, meanwhile, is in Sub-Sectional A of the Mendota Sectional. Regional hosts are Prophetstown and Hall High School in Spring Valley.

In Class 1A, Dwight and Gardner-South Wilmington are in Sub-Sectional B of the Harvest Christian Academy Sectional. Regional hosts are Aurora Christian and Somonauk.

Record-setting performance

After a win over Plainfield East, Plainfield North coach Bob Krahulik said Evan Czarnik had one of his better shooting nights of the year.

Krahulik was right about that. In fact, it was the best shooting night in the history of the Tigers’ program, as the seven 3-pointers Czarnik made on his way to 23 points was a new school record.