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PLAINFIELD – Joliet Central used a strong second half to earn a road win over Plainfield Central.
The Steelmen traveled to Plainfield Central Tuesday night and left with a 44-38 victory.
It was the second matchup this year between the two schools with Joliet Central (2-6) winning a Nov. 30 tournament game over the Wildcats 43-40.
Plainfield Central (0-6) came out strong in the first half thanks to a strong performance from Phoenix Jones, who led the team with 10 points and helped build a seven-point lead early.
Free throws late in the second quarter by Joliet Central’s Jevonate McCann would bring the Steelmen within one going into the half down 17-16.
The second half saw the Steelmen come out firing from all over the court making three 3-pointers in the third quarter with Erick Contreras leading the charge, scoring 8 of his 11 points in the quarter.
“First half I was 0 for 3 and missed a wide-open layup. I told myself going into the second half that I have to turn it on,” Contreras said. “I just kept believing in myself and knocked down shots.”
Joliet gained the lead at the end of the third quarter 31-30 and once again behind the 3-point shooting of Contreras and McCann built the Steelman lead up to six with five and a half minutes left in the game.
Malachi Boatright also scored 10 points for the Steelman including two late free throws to seal the road win.
Plainfield Central interim head coach Calvin Brooks, who was filling in for head coach Tim Boe who was serving a one-game suspension for being ejected from their last contest, spoke about his team’s performance and the added pressure moving into the head coach’s position.
“These coaches had confidence in me and once the game started I didn’t think twice about it because, at the end of the night, it’s still basketball,” Brooks said. “I respect that our guys continue to play hard, they are a young team that has been thrown into the fire and all I’ve asked of them is that they play hard and show some pride and I can live with the results.”
It was Joliet Central’s second win of the season with both wins against Plainfield Central. Coach Lawrence Thompson says his team showed incredible toughness bouncing back from three straight losses coming by an average of 36.6 points.
“My team showed that they have the intestinal fortitude, getting beat three times in a row by 30 allows you to think that sometimes when you get down even a small amount of points, you do not think you can come back,” Thompson said. “You got to believe that you’re going to handle the ball, you’re not going to turn it over, and that you’re going to make shots. Tonight we did that.”
Joliet Central will host Romeoville on Thursday looking to build off Tuesday’s victory. Plainfield Central will face rival Plainfield South on Friday, still in search of their first win of the season.