Lincoln-Way East explodes in the third quarter to win SWSC matchup with Lincoln-Way West

NEW LENOX – After treating Lincoln-Way East boys basketball coach Rich Kolimas to a pregame tribute for his 23 years of service, host Lincoln-Way West treated the Griffins to a thrilling and competitive first half Tuesday night.

In 23 years, however, Kolimas has learned how to give a halftime speech. The one he gave Tuesday must’ve been one for the ages.

The Griffins outscored the Warriors 29-9 in the third quarter and fended off a furious rally by Lincoln-Way West in the fourth to earn a 70-56 SouthWest Suburban Conference win.

Kolimas will retire at the end of the season after more than two decades with Lincoln-Way East (9-6, 3-3 SWSC). He’s also been a member of the English department during that time and expressed gratitude for the tribute the Warriors paid him in the lead-up to the game.

After going ahead by as many as 29 points and getting the win over them, of course.

“We picked our defensive pressure up [in the third quarter],” Kolimas said. “We created a couple of turnovers, got some easy baskets and loosened up a little bit offensively. That helped us knock down some shots.”

The game started with a flurry with three consecutive 3-pointers, two for Lincoln-Way West and one for Lincoln Way East. A 3 by Brenden Sanders and a layup by Jonathan Aluyi put the Griffins in front, a position they’d hold the rest of the game.

Those aforementioned baskets were part of a 13-2 run for the Griffins to give them a 16-8 lead. A 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left on the clock by Wyatt Carlson cut the Warriors' deficit to 16-11 at the end of the opening period.

Lincoln-Way West opened the second the way it ended the first: with a basket by Carlson. Including Carlson’s trey at the end of the first, the Warriors managed to go on a 10-2 run to tie the score at 18 midway through the first. The teams exchanged baskets with the score within a possession with three minutes left in the opening half.

A trey by Evan Riiff and layup by Aluyi made it 30-22, but a pair of free throws and a buzzer-beating finger roll by Carlson trimmed the Warriors' disadvantage to 30-26 entering the half.

The speech Kolimas gave at halftime must’ve trumped the one the Warriors gave honoring the longtime Griffins coach before the game. The third quarter was all Lincoln-Way East.

Following a layup by West’s Nick Brezniak to narrow it to 30-28, the Griffins scored 13 straight points before Carlson managed a layup to stop the bleeding. It was a Band-Aid over a bullet wound, however, as Lincoln-Way East scored another seven straight to make it 50-30 in the blink of an eye. By the end of the penultimate period, the Warriors found themselves down 59-35.

Credit Lincoln-Way West for refusing to fold. The Warriors opened the final quarter of play with a 10-0 run to get within 59-45. The efforts of Carlson, John Schwerha and Luke Gouty actually pulled the Warriors within 63-49 with 2:24 to go in an impressive show of resiliency.

Ultimately, however, the gap had simply been too large, and Lincoln-Way East did enough down the stretch to hold on to its lopsided lead.

Sanders finished with 21 points and seven rebounds to lead the Griffins. Luke Vetter (13 points), Jonathan Aluyi (10 points) and Aidan Nilsson (eight) all stood out as well.

“Brendan is able to create a lot,” Aluyi said. “That gave me some looks. Luke and the rest of the team got some good looks, too.”

The Warriors (8-7, 2-3) were without starting guard Max Gabriel, who missed school and the game with an illness. In his absence, Carlson stepped up with 27 points, Schwerha added 11 , Drake Been chipped in nine and Gouty seven. The fourth quarter rally was something coach Tanner Mitchell wants them to build on.

“I said after the game we could’ve really just cashed it in and lost by 30 points the way it was going in the second half,” Mitchell said. “They battled back and we outscored them 21-11 in the fourth quarter. That shows a lot, but we have to do a much better job coming out of halftime.”