Bolingbrook outlasts Joliet West for 12th consecutive win

BOLINGBROOK – Bolingbrook is closing the month of January with an absolute gauntlet of a schedule.

And so far the Raiders have emerged from the stretch unscathed.

But that doesn’t mean they haven’t taken a quality shot from an opponent along the way, and it certainly did Friday night from host Joliet West as the Raiders finally inched away in the final minutes for a 66-62 Southwest Prairie Conference victory.

“I was proud of our guys and how we responded,” Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said. “We talk about all the time that there’s never any room for panic, and we didn’t panic tonight and we made some plays down the stretch.”

There was ample opportunity for Bolingbrook (21-2, 10-0) to choose to panic.

Joliet West (14-8, 7-3) seemed to be taking momentum late in the third quarter and took a 47-44 lead into the fourth.

And after Bolingbrook scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, the Tigers surged again with a 5-0 run to recapture control of the scoreboard.

That gave Joliet West a 52-48 lead and a ton of momentum, but JT Pettigrew wasn’t about to give in that easily.

Pettigrew knocked down a basket and then scored a traditional three-point play as part of a huge second half for him, largely actions that were accomplished while he was also limited somewhat by foul problems.

“I had some dumb fouls today, but I thought when I came back in I fought back,” Pettigrew said. “They were denying Davion [Thompson] all game, and I felt like with them being a physical game, it was kind of obvious that I had to make my presence felt.”

Pettigrew added two more baskets down the stretch and finished with a game-high 24 points.

“He can do so many things,” Brost said of Pettigrew. “He’s so versatile as a player and he’s such a great leader for us. I’m just proud of him and all of our guys.”

Joliet West expended a lot of energy trying to limit Bolingbrook’s sophomore sensation Thompson for having a huge scoring night.

The tactic worked early on as Thompson netted just four points in the first half, but scoring forces like Thompson are rarely fully denied. He picked up the pace in the second half, finishing with 21 points and helped ice the outcome by draining all five of his free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter.

Bolingbrook was a perfect 11 of 11 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

Joliet West was able to hang closely with Bolingbrook largely due to the efforts of Ethan Hillsman, who continues his second half of the season surge. Hillsman finished with a team-high 22 points.

Zion Gross added 16 to the Tigers' cause, while Mickeis Johnson contributed 14.