Boys basketball: Area teams working things out at Morris Boys Shootout

MORRIS – For most basketball teams, the summer is for finding out what kind of team they will have after replacing the seniors that graduated from the previous team, and for trying to develop a good chemistry on the floor together.

Joliet Central is the personification of that this summer, as the Steelmen must replace senior starters Zion Kostyra, JaMarcho Holman, JayLin Murphy and Isaiah Mollette from last season’s 19-12 team that advanced to the Class 4A regional championship before losing to Marist.

On Tuesday at the 37th Morris Shootout, the Steelmen opened with a 38-27 loss to DeKalb, but wins and losses are not the most important thing to coach Lawrence Thompson, Jr., especially with Danny Thompson, the only regular starter returning from last year, sidelined with a knee injury.

“We have usually had around 17 kids this summer,” Coach Thompson said. “Sometimes, we’ve had as many as 20. Some coaches don’t like having a lot of kids, but I say the more, the merrier, especially in the summer. This is when we see who plays well together and how hard they want to work in order to get on the court.

“One thing about the guys that are coming back from last year is that they have to get better. Their roles are going to change. With Zion, JaMarcho, JayLin and Isaiah gone, that’s a lot of minutes to make up for on the varsity level. We aren’t going to keep 17-20 guys on the roster, so they are battling for a spot on the team this winter.”

Besides Danny Thompson, who averaged 12 points a game last season, some of the returners who saw significant minutes last season are Deven Tripplett, Glenn Harper and BJ Fox.

“Even Danny’s role will change from last year,” Lawrence Thompson said. “That means everyone else’s role is going to change, too. We are going to ask them to do more than they did last year. Everyone’s role will be expanded.

“With that, we know we are going to see some turnovers and some missed shots. We’re going to go through some growing pains, but it’s who grows the most from them that will play.”

In the morning session at the 32-team event, Bolingbrook - playing without standouts Davion Thompson and JT Pettigrew and head coach Rob Brost - went 3-0 to move into Wednesday’s championship bracket. The Raiders defeated Marmion Academy 50-38, edged Minooka 47-44 in double overtime, and beat Sandwich 66-35. Minooka’s other two games were a 54-27 win over Sandwich and a 48-43 loss to Marmion.

“It’s a little better this summer,” second-year Minooka coach Brett Hespell said. “The kids have bought into what we are doing, and really, they did that last year. This summer is more fine-tuning things rather than teaching what we want done, and it has been going pretty well. Bolingbrook was short-handed, but we were missing a couple of guys, too. For us to take a talented team like Bolingbrook into double-overtime is a good sign for us.”

TUESDAY’S SCORES

Bloomington Central Catholic 57, Burlington Central 50; Neuqua Valley 74, Oswego 53; Bolingbrook 50, Marmion 38; Minooka 54, Sandwich 27; Lake Forest 47, Eastland 35; Morton 47, Tolono Unity 35; Kankakee 56, Galesburg 38; Loyola Academy 43, Normal U-High 27; Neuqua Valley 72, Bloomington Central Catholic 52; Oswego 44, Burlington Central 39; Marmion 40, Sandwich 28; Bolingbrook 47, Minooka 44 (2 OT); Morton 64, Eastland 47; Lake Forest 57, Tolono Unity 27; Kankakee 65, Normal U-High 33; Loyola Academy 65, Galesburg 53; Bloomington Central Catholic 55, Oswego 48; Burlington Central 49, Neuqua Valley 46; Bolingbrook 66, Sandwich 35; Marmion 48, Minooka 43; Eastland 54, Tolono Unity 32; Morton 44, Lake Forest 36; Galesburg 49, Normal U-High 43; Loyola Academy 47, Kankakee 46; Collinsville 36, Lake Park 20; Waubonsie Valley 62, Ottawa 23; Deerfield 61, Belvidere 31; Plainfield North 70, Streator 66 (OT); DeKalb 48, Joliet Central 27; Oak Forest 46, Pontiac 41; Benet Academy 48, Dundee-Crown 27; Plainfield South 54, Morris 27.