Boys basketball: Lincoln-Way East stays hot, topples Lincoln-Way West

NEW LENOX – Lincoln-Way East lost 17 games last season and struggled to deal with multiple close losses.

This year’s version of the Griffins looks very similar in name to last year’s roster, but the results have been far from the same story.

“We’re versatile now. We can step up and everybody can guard everybody,” said Lincoln-Way East forward George Bellevue, who helped his team to its ninth win in 10 games with a 76-45 victory over district rival Lincoln-Way West.

“We were a younger team now and now we’re much older and mature, and I don’t think anybody can beat us. We can’t afford to lose the way we were last year, it is a big season ahead of us, we’re trying to do something special.”

Special might be what Lincoln-Way East is capable of if Friday is any indication. The Griffins got off to something of a mundane start, but the basic array of offensive weapons eventually started to pay dividends.

Lincoln-Way East’s veterans took control midway through the first with a Bellevue dunk allowing the Griffins to start to pull away from the Warriors (5-5).

And, although a majority of the Griffins’ roster has experience, it also has some impressive new ingredients.

Freshman BJ Powell looked more than comfortable in the varsity mix Friday He knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter to give Lincoln-Way East some separation. Powell finished with 11 first-half points on his way to a 14-point showing, which led a very balanced Lincoln-Way East effort. Ten different Griffins scored.

“I feel like I’m blending in good,” Powell said. “They are always helping me out, helping me become a better player.”

Bellevue and Powell combined for 22 first-half points as the lead steadily grew to 40-25 by the break. Lincoln-Way West wouldn’t threaten the rest of the way.

“The biggest difference for us is senior leadership,” Lincoln-Way East coach Rich Kolimas said. “The difference between a junior and senior is just huge, maturing physically and mentally and just understanding the game a little more and our approach. We were in a lot of tight ball games last year. I mean, we were right there. And we’d turn the ball over at the end and it would hurt us, or whatever.

“We had to go through the battles last year, and we had a really good summer and really good fall to get ready for this year, and it is nice to see it pay off a little bit here.”

And while the experienced seniors are clearly setting the pace, there’s a second wave of Lincoln-Way East players more than capable of a providing a boost. Forty of Lincoln-Way East’s points Friday came from the bench.

“It’s a luxury to have guys that can come off the bench and score,” Kolimas said. “We’ve got two, three or four guys off the bench that can come in and score for us in different situations.”

Lincoln-Way West was led in scoring by Eli Bach, who had 15 of his game-high 16 points in the first half.