JOLIET – For most of the first half Thursday night at Joliet Central, Joliet West had its hands full with its District 204 and Southwest Prairie Conference rival.
After halftime, though, it was a different story.
The Tigers stormed out of the gates and scored the first 20 points of the second half, turning a 31-21 halftime lead into a 51-21 edge before Central got on the board with a basket by Luis Rivas. Rivas also scored Central’s only basket in the fourth quarter as the Tigers cruised to a 64-25 win.
“At halftime, we challenged the guys to be better versions of their collective selves,” West coach Jeremy Kreiger said. “We wanted to have better defensive intensity, dominate on the boards and not commit so many turnovers.
“We were able to do all of those things. Being able to limit them to a lot of one-and-done possessions, get the rebound and get up the floor was huge for us. We were able to use our speed and length to run the floor and punish the paint.”
:quality(70):focal(1485x1077:1495x1087)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/YCGHTH4KSZATRKYAAJXFMKVU6E.jpg)
At the start, however, it looked like Joliet Central (2-19, 1-11 SPC) was poised to pull off the upset on its home floor. The Steelmen made five of their first six shots from the field and held an 11-9 lead with about two minutes to play in the first quarter. West’s Amir Shannon (13 points) converted a three-point play to put the Tigers ahead for good at 12-11. Teammate Zion Gross, who had game highs with 22 points and seven rebounds, converted one of his own rebounds just before the end of the quarter to give West a 15-11 lead entering the second.
West (16-9, 9-3 SPC) scored the first six points of the second quarter, four by Gross, for a 21-11 lead before Central’s Jayden Poplawski hit a 3-pointer to spark a 7-0 run in the next 34 seconds. James Lee (6 points) made a basket and then a pair of free throws for the Steelmen to cut it to 21-18. Shannon and Lee traded baskets to make it 23-20, but Central managed just five points the rest of the game.
“We had some trouble with their pressure early,” Gross said. “We adjusted to it, and we were able to use our defense to get some steals and into transition. We love to get out and run and get dunks. We have a lot of size and athleticism, and we want to use it.
“We want to come out of the locker room with a lot of intensity every game. You have to take every game as an opportunity because you never know when it might get taken away. None of us have big egos, we just want to get out there and play.”
:quality(70):focal(1361x871:1371x881)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/DLGGIDE35NE3DB4RI426VOE4H4.jpg)
Although it was a struggle in the second half, Central coach Lawrence Thompson Jr. was pleased with the way his team played early.
“Our kids were ready from the start,” Thompson said. “We knew that Joliet West is a good defensive team, but we hung around in the first half.
“Us hanging around got their intensity up. They play good, old-fashioned man-to-man defense, and they have the quickness and length to give good help. A lot of the turnovers we had were caused by their defense. We made some mistakes, but they caused a lot of them, too. And when those turnovers go the other way for baskets like they did tonight, it can be tough.
“Intensity is a powerful thing. We were intense early and ready to go. We made a few shots and had confidence. Now we need to learn to compete like that for a whole game.”