Plainfield East pushed their record to 21-1 on the season after a punishing third quarter against visiting rival Plainfield North in which the Bengals went from a 31-21 lead at the half to a 30-point cushion behind a defense that pressured the young Tiger backcourt into 8 turnovers in the quarter. East kept that cushion in large part to senior guard DeAndre Brown who capped his sensational prep career scoring 27 points on the night and reached the career 1000-point mark in the process. Brown simply couldn't be stopped as he was able to penetrate and finish at the rim as well as draining three-pointers from beyond the arc effortlessly. In a magical season to this point for East, Brown is an example of a player that not only displays his skill set on a nightly basis but does it with the kind of character every coach seeks when drawing up their starting line-up. The Tigers on the other hand are in a rebuilding year and have struggled to 5 wins but they are not a team I would take my eyes off in the post season and could shock a few teams.

Riddled with injury and inexperience, the Tigers were in the lions den in Bolingbrook last week and they knew it. The Bolingbrook pep band opened with the national anthem but it could have very well been "Taps". The Lady Raiders (19-1, 11-0) opened the first quarter by missing their first three shot attempts shooting 3 of 10 in the early going but it was nothing more than a nuisance for Brook fans who jeered some at the missed layups but were treated to a first class thumping of a Tigers team that suited only seven girls for the contest due to injury. West was held scoreless until 6 seconds left to play in the games opening half when a 6-foot jumper from junior Vicky Orasco found the bottom of the net and avoided being blanked in the half 41-2. Bolingbrook was simply too quick, too big and in the end too smart to allow the Tigers hope of competing with them on their home floor in a 72-16 "two for me none for you" basketball showcase win.

Joliet Catholic took on Providence Tuesday night in Joliet and while the Celtics have shown signs of turning the corner this season and making a run after securing second year coach Tim Trendel who has guided Providence to a 12-7 record this year, JCA's new coach and longtime veteran Joe Gura is a year behind. The Hilltoppers went down to Providence 53-38 despite giving the Celtic offense fits in the first half. The difference in the game was the play of Celtics 6-foot-8 senior center Mike Marietti who nearly pulled off a double/double scoring 15 and grabbing 9 boards in the win. JCA's James Ragen led all scorers with 16 points, 12 of which came from beyond the arc on a 6 of 10 shooting night but it wasn't enough to overcome the turnovers forced by a tough Providence defense. The Hilltoppers saw their record drop to 5-15 after the loss as each team has two games left before the seeding meeting next week for the IHSA state tournament in March. Trendel's squad will host a regional and look like they very well may contend for a regional championship.

The Bengals have been nearly flawless this season sporting an unblemished 8-0 SPC record after dominating last season's conference champion Plainfield South in a postponed game from Jan. 20th cancelled due to a snowstorm and replayed Saturday night.

East turned the heat up right away in the first quarter scoring 28 points capped by DeAndre Brown's nine points, two of which came at the end of the quarter when Brown stole an inbound pass and drained a 12 footer at the buzzer to put the Bengals on top 28-10.

South had little to be excited over in the game chasing double digits the rest of the way never getting closer than ten points the remainder. Perhaps the only bright spot was the play of senior Cougar center Will Nixon powered his way to a game high 26 points, 8 rebounds and an assist but despite that performance saw his team drop to 10-8 on the season, 5-3 in the SPC. East improved to 17-1 on the year and will look to a big contest at home this week against conference foe Minooka who won big over Romeoville Friday night 65-35.

Two SouthWest Suburban Blue teams battled it out Friday night when Lockport (12-7, 3-4) nearly got one against Joliet West (13-4, 6-1) but despite holding the lead for thirty one of the thirty two minutes played, the Porters fell short by one, 49-48 in a defensive battle.

The smaller Porters post took it to the Tigers in the paint early out rebounding them and getting several offensive rebounds that helped them to an early six point lead but West wouldn't go away. Tiger coach Luke Yaklich told his team in a time out to get the ball inside and once they did, the Porter lead was in jeopardy as the Tigers chipped away at the charity stripe.

West got to the line often knocking down 21 of 36 when in comparison the Porters got to the stripe thirteen times making only six. That ultimately proved to be Lockport's downfall as West chased four most of the night tying the game up in the third quarter before trailing again as much as five in the fourth but used twenty three free throw attempts in the second half to stay within striking range.

JOLIET – The first basket of overtime Tuesday night was a classic scramble play. Junior center/forward Adam Janusz-Lancaster dove for a loose-ball rebound and, from the floor, found Shakar Washington.

A junior point guard, Washington drove the baseline and dished to his cutter, junior guard Keith Craig. And Craig’s layup gave the Joliet Catholic Academy boys basketball team its first lead of the game, 39-37.

The reaction: priceless.

“If you could have seen me, I screamed ‘yeah’ at the end,” said Craig, whose back was turned to the audience when he converted. “I was just happy to get the basket, and we had the momentum from there. I think we started to settle down, we got a few easy buckets and we got a few easy baskets.”

Joliet Central jumped out all over Lincoln Way West on Monday night at the Martin Luther King Day of Hoops event held at Joliet West High School. The Lady Steelmen held a 29-11 advantage heading into half and seemingly had the game well in hand but the Warriors would get hot in the third outscoring Joliet 15-6 in the quarter and trailed 33-26 entering the fourth.

With less than three seconds left in the regulation and trailing 52-49, the Warriors completed the impressive comeback when junior guard Brittany Michalski banked in an 18 foot game tying three pointer forcing overtime 52-52. In the overtime period, Central gathered its composure and knocked down their shots building a 60-54 lead with less than a minute to play. Joliet did a nice job down the stretch knocking down their free throws hitting 5 of 6 to preserve the win.

After the game, first year Steelmen coach Brian Reed was impressed with his teams toughness in overtime "We are a young team and we are very inconsistent at times but really it wasn't as if we played a terrible second half, West just got hot. You cannot defend the three pointer like you can the post and they were knocking down shots and getting a lot of second chances on the long rebounds. I thought we kept our heads and finished the game as well as can be expected. We won the game but it was definitely an impressive comeback from West today. It was a fun game to be in."

At Bolingbrook High School it was a game of up and downs when they played host to Joliet West in the first of two Southwest Suburban Blue meetings on their schedule. The Tigers moved up and the Raiders down after West used the last 2 minutes to shut the door on the Raiders 61-59 and improved their season record to 10-4, 4-1 while the Raiders dropped to 8-7 overall, 3-2 in conference.

The Raiders held a slight advantage at the half as both teams battled for position. Basketball fans were likely anticipating a great post game with both schools boasting fairly dominant centers but it was the Tigers 6-9 senior center Marlon Johnson that established the paint scoring a game high 15 despite fighting off early foul trouble that forced the senior to sit much of the second and third quarters. West built a 10 point - 48-38 lead heading into the fourth quarter before Bolingbrook's guard Alec Boyd was fouled on a make and completed a three point play that drew them to within a point 54-53. West used critical rebounds and solid free throw shooting down the stretch to earn the win.

ROMEOVILLE –Romeoville and Minooka high schools hit shots during the final 11 seconds to post Southwest Prairie Conference girls basketball victories Friday.

For the better part of the last quarter-century,Romeoville has found ways to lose, game after game, season after season.

The Spartans found a way to win, rallying from an 18-point third-quarter deficit to beat Plainfield East 53-51 Friday in Romeoville.

Brianna Harris’ driving basket from Abby Smith’s cross court assist with 11 seconds left provided the winning margin in the Southwest Prairie Conference thriller.

“I was just trying to win the game for my team because I felt like I let them down in the first half,” Harris said.

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