4A Boys Basketball: Joliet Central falls to Marist in regional championship

SOUTH HOLLAND – If someone had told the Joliet Central boys basketball team before the season that it would be in a regional championship game, the Steelmen would have been ecstatic.

Not only was 10th-seeded Joliet Central playing in the title game against No. 2 Marist at the Class 4A Thornwood Regional on Friday, but the Steelmen hung with the Redhawks for the first two and a half quarters before Marist’s defense and some uncharacteristic turnovers by Joliet Central turned the tide.

Marist ended the third quarter on a 16-2 run and came away with a 66-51 win.

“I would have been real happy at the start of the year if you told me we would be playing for a regional title,” Central coach Lawrence Thompson, Jr. said. “Hats off to Marist. They used their length and athleticism and stuck with their game plan. They did what they needed to do.

“We did some nice things handling their pressure early on, but they stayed with it and it got to us in the third quarter.”

Until the midpoint of the third, though, it was anyone’s game.

The game was played at Central’s pace through the first quarter, and Marist took a 10-7 lead into the second.

The Steelmen tied it at 15 on a baseline drive for a three-point play by sophomore Deven Triplett. After Marist’s Stephen Brown (20 points) scored, Triplett drained a 3-pointer from the right corner to put Central ahead 18-17 with 1:40 to play in the first half. Marist answered with a putback by Marquis Vance, who had game highs of 23 points and 13 rebounds off the bench, and a 3-pointer by Adoni Vassilakis. Central’s Danny Thompson added a free throw before halftime to cut the lead to 22-19.

Central kept it close early in the third and took a 27-25 lead on a 3-pointer by Jaylin Murphy, who scored a team-high 20 points. Marist scored six straight points before Murphy hit another 3-pointer to pull the Steelmen (19-12) to within 31-30.

That was when Marist took over.

After a basket by Brown, the Redhawks went back to their pressure and this time, it was effective. Marist was able to convert turnovers into baskets in the final 3:23 of the third, outscoring Joliet Central 16-2 to take a 47-32 lead into the fourth.

“It felt great to be in a regional championship,” Murphy said. “Central hadn’t been in one since 2018. But, turnovers got us tonight. We missed some shots that we normally hit.

“It’s not how I wanted the season to end, but we put up a good game. We were ready to play and we weren’t intimidated.”

Marist increased the lead to 56-39 in the first two minutes of the fourth before Central showed that it wasn’t done yet.

Zion Kostyra scored on back-to-back possessions and sophomore Bernal Fox delivered a jumper and a 3-pointer on successive trips to cut the lead to single digits at 56-48. That was as close as the Steelmen got, however, as Brown ended the Central run with a powerful dunk. Central got a three-point play by Murphy on a putback with 1:41 to play to pull to within 61-51, but it didn’t score again.

“We couldn’t buy a shot for a while,” Thompson said. “A lot of that was because of the depth and length of Marist. They also did a good job of getting Nos. 25 [Vance] and 5 [Brown] the ball where they could use their height.

“Danny Thompson had a big game Wednesday [scoring 29 points in a win over Lincoln-Way East], and that drew their attention. They were all over him. We did get some nice plays off the bench by Deven Triplett and Bernal Fox. Those two sophomores got some great experience heading into next year.

“The hard work these kids put in really paid off this year. They believed in themselves. Sometimes things don’t work on a given day, but they feel they can compete with anybody.”