Boys Basketball: Bolingbrook runs winning streak to 10

LOCKPORT — The old saying in basketball is, “ball don’t lie.”

Neither do the rebounding numbers.

Bolingbrook outrebounded host Lockport 21-6 and the Raiders grabbed 11 offensive rebounds, converting those into 12 points.

That was just in the first half.

Michael Osei-Bonsu, a 6-foot-5 senior center, had 12 points and 11 rebounds, including five offensive boards. His tenacious effort helped the Raiders dominate in a 60-36 victory in a SouthWest Suburban Conference, Blue Division matchup on Friday night. There was a large crowd in pink shirts on the annual “Porters Vs. Cancer’ night and the game was also broadcast before a local TV audience on the WCIU Game of the Week.

“It’s the thing that coach demands,” Osei-Bonsu said of the rebounding. “We need to get on the boards and break the ball out to the guards.”

Two of those guards, junior Mekhi Cooper (14 points) and senior Jaydin Dunlap (12 points, 8 rebounds) were among the four Raiders in double digits scoring. Donavan Younger, a 6-11 junior forward, who had 11 points, was the other.

“We just wanted to run the floor, get after it, and we did,” Cooper said. “We just kept the pressure on and didn’t let them get into it.”

Lockport (16-12, 3-4) had all 14 of its turnovers in the first three quarters.

“Between Donavan and Michael we control the interior,” Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said. “Throw in some rebounding from our guards and we controlled the boards.

“We were pleased with our play, our pressure. We sped them up a bit and took control. We’ve won the league numerous times. But we’ve never finished undefeated in the conference.”

Bolingbrook, which finished with a 34-12 rebounding advantage, had already clinched the SWSC Blue Division championship coming in. The Raiders (24-6, 7-0) have now won or tied for the SWSC Blue for four straight seasons and nine times since the league formed in 2005-06. If they can beat Sandburg next week, which is winless in the league, they would run the table in the conference.

Senior forward Ethan Gallagher, who led Lockport with 10 points had a nice scoop move to tie the score at 11-11 in the opening minute of the second quarter. But fittingly it was a rebound basket by Osei-Bonsu, who scored all six of his second-quarter points on putbacks, which started a 10-0 run that gave the Raiders the lead for good.

Osei-Bonsu had six boards, four of them offensive, in the second quarter alone. Dunlap added five rebounds, two of them offensive, in the quarter, which saw Bolingbrook get half its 14 rebounds on the offensive end.

“We had to get the energy up,” Osei-Bonsu said of the second-quarter spurt. “To win the conference feels good but we have to keep working hard at everything.”

The Raiders led 27-15 at halftime. Despite senior guard Julius Smith scoring six of his eight points in the second half, Lockport never got any closer in the third quarter. Bolingbrook led 49-31 after three.

“I didn’t think we were mentally tough,” Lockport coach Brett Hespell said. “Bolingbrook was a lot more mentally tough than we were. We didn’t do what we wanted to do, we did what they wanted us to do.

“We’re better than we showed. I’m very disappointed in our effort and execution.”

Both teams are in the Class 4A Oswego Sectional, where Bolingbrook got the No. 2 seed and the Porters are seeded No. 6.

“When we play well we are hard to beat,” Brost said. “But we don’t talk about the number of wins we have, the conference titles, or what we are seeded. We just focus on what is right in front of us.”