Bolingbrook does just enough to topple Romeoville

ROMEOVILLE — Bolingbrook wasn’t really able to fully shake off host Romeoville in a Southwest Prairie Conference battle on Friday night.

So when the Spartans pulled to within five points late in the contest, the Raiders were forced to go out of their normal attack mode, slow things down and reset.

What came from that was a possession that lasted over a minute and ended with a uncontested JT Pettigrew dunk. The Raiders weren’t seriously threatened the rest of the way and emerged with a 62-55 hard-fought win.

“We’re capable,” Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said. “For sure. We’re not always going to play well, but we need to be able to play better than we did tonight.

“You have to give them (Romeoville) a lot of credit. They did a good job of being really physical with us and we didn’t do a really good job of adjusting to that.”

But the Raiders (16-2) did enough to notch their eighth consecutive win.

The Raiders finally looked as if they would shake the Spartans for good early in the fourth quarter. They stretched their lead into double digits for only the second time in the game with a Jeremy McCallum basket that put them up 52-41 with just over six minutes to play.

But Romeoville (9-9) would score the game’s next six points to tighten things considerably.

Bolingbrook’s offense hadn’t been clicking the way it usually had and its transition offense had been fairly well neutralized. So then the Raiders changed tactics, slowed things down, controlled possession and finished things with JT Pettigrew’s dunk to get Bolingbrook’s house back in order.

It was an interesting night for Pettigrew. He was whistled for his third foul early in the second quarter and was forced to sit and watch for a large chunk of the first half.

“It’s obviously frustrating when you have to sit on the bench, but I feel like my teammates did a great job filling my role,” Pettigrew said.

Pettigrew was limited to just four first-half points and finished with 18, eight of which came in the pivotal stretch in the fourth quarter.

“When I got back out there I had to make up for that lost time,” Pettigrew said.

Davion Thompson led Bolingbrook with 23 points as he carried the Raider offense in the first half with 15 before the break.

Despite those two offensive outbursts, the Raiders recognize that they are going to have to clean some things up if they want to continue their current role.

“It’s just a few little things here or there and then the game is completely different,” Brost said. “If we do what we’re supposed to do, we win by 18 or 20. You aren’t always going to play well and this is a tough place to play and they did a good job and you have to give them credit as well.”

Pettigrew also said that the Raiders weren’t as sharp as they could have been.

“I think we just need better communication and just tighten up some of the little stuff and then we’ll be good,” Pettigrew said.

Damion Porter Jr. had a strong outing for Romeoville with 18 points, Danny Thompson chipped in 13 points while Jacob Miloch also contributed 11 points off the bench.