Bloom rallies in second half to trip Joliet West for regional title

JOLIET — After the first half Friday night, it looked like Joliet West was well on its way to a third straight regional championship.

The Tigers used a 12-0 run in the first quarter as a boost to a 17-10 lead at the end of the first, and held the lead throughout the second quarter as well, taking a 27-21 lead into halftime.

Unfortunately for Joliet West, the quest for the third straight regional crown fell just short as Bloom rallied in the second half and came away with a 50-46 victory.

“We just couldn’t score in the second half,” Joliet West coach Jeremy Kreiger said. “Give credit to Bloom. They played very good defense and were able to get the ball to the basket and score.

“We were able to find open guys with shots that we wanted, but none of them would fall. If one or two of them fell at any point, it changes the game. If we see the ball go through the net, then we play defense and rebound harder.”

Bloom chipped away at the Tigers' lead in the third quarter, finally tying the game at 31 on a basket by Adam Page (11 points). Not long after, the Blazing Trojans took the lead for good on a bucket by Xavier Martin (12 points) before Elijah Lovemore (10 points) converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way for a 36-31 lead. Joliet West’s Zion Gross, who led all scorers with 17 points, scored to cut it to 36-33, but Page scored before the end of the quarter to give Bloom a 38-33 lead entering the fourth.

“The season was a bit of a roller-coaster,” Gross said. “But we trusted coach Kreiger and the whole process. We played well tonight, but the shots just didn’t fall for us. Both teams played really good defense.

“We didn’t feel any pressure even when we were behind. We just kept fighting like we always do. We battled ‘til the end.”

The Tigers (21-10) got a 3-pointer from Tristian Saunders to start the fourth, but Bloom got a basket by Martin and a free throw each by Lovemore and Payton Edwards (11 points) to move out to a 42-36 lead. The Tigers' Brockton Goehrke connected from 3-point range and Amir Shannon followed with a free throw to make it 42-40 with 2:19 to play.

Bloom, though, continued to execute offensively as Vincent Kelly scored before Edwards made four straight free throws to put the Trojans ahead 48-40 with 32 seconds left. West’s Ethan Hillsman sandwiched a pair of baskets around a free throw by Lovemore, cutting the lead to 49-44, but Lovemore made another free throw with 9.9 seconds left. Luke Grevengoed scored on a putback in the waning seconds to provide the final margin.

“We weren’t able to pressure the paint like we usually do,” Kreiger said. “And, we got outrebounded for the first time in a long time.”

Bloom got off to a 6-2 lead early, but Joliet West went on a 12-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Gross, to take a 14-6 lead. They later got a 3-pointer by Saunders and took a 17-10 lead into the second.

The West lead reached 23-12 after consecutive baskets by Grevengoed and Gross before Bloom went on a 9-4 run before halftime to close to within 27-21 at intermission.

“We rode the momentum hard in the first half,” Kreiger said. “But, we couldn’t get it out of our head when we started missing shots in the second half.

“That’s the game of basketball. It’s a game of makes and misses and we didn’t have enough makes tonight.”