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44 | December 8, 2016 | The Mokena Messenger sports mokenamessenger.com Boys basketball Bolingbrook raids Central’s chances to get to .500 on season Knights fall to 1-3 with 99-62 road loss to bigger Raiders Frank Gogola Freelance Reporter Lincoln-Way Central coach Bob Curran knew Bolingbrook would be a good team despite not having any game film to review, but he wasn’t expecting his Knights (1-4) would be blown out before the fourth quarter began. That is precisely what happened, as Central suffered a 99-62 road loss to Bolingbrook, a Top-10 team in the state, on Friday, Dec. 2. The Central offense, which continues to be a work in progress, couldn’t keep up with the up-tempo pace and depth of Bolingbrook (4-0). “Sometimes you just got to walk out of the gym and say that team was better,” Curran said. “I don’t know if they’re 37 points better. It would have been nice to walk out of here losing by 15, 20. That would have been respectable.” Five Bolingbrook players scored in double figures. Nana Akenten, a University of Nebraska commit, scored a game-high 23 points. Kaleb Thornton added 18, Malik Binns and Tyler Cochran scored 12 apiece, and Isaiah Clemons added 10. “They’re bigger, faster, stronger, deeper,” Curran said. “They shared the ball well. They played hard.” Knights senior guard Aaron Michalak and junior guard Chris Robinson combined for 35 points while the rest of the Knights accounted for 27. Michalak scored 18 points, and Robinson added a season-high 17 off the bench. Michalak entered the Central’s Aaron Michalak (22) passes the ball around Bolingbrook’s Nana Akenten (25). game averaging a team-high 14.8 points per game and was the only player averaging seven or more points per game. He’s the lone returner with meaningful varsity minutes from a team that lost its entire starting five. Robinson had been averaging 5.8 points per game off the bench. Curran has been giving seniors a chance to earn a spot in the starting lineup, and Robinson may crack that lineup if he can show offensive consistency. “Right now, Aaron’s the only proven kid that he can score some points on varsity,” Curran said. “So, Chris Robinson maybe. He’s right there. He’s got a great attitude. He’s handled coming off the bench really well. He’s done a lot of positives. But we need some other guys to step up, too.” Lincoln-Way Central was coming off a 1-3 seasonopening performance at the Joliet West High School Tiger Thanksgiving Classic from Nov. 21-26. They lost two games by two points, 36-34 to Rich South and 67- 65 to another Top-10 team in Joliet West. Against Bolingbrook, the Knights were held scoreless for the opening 3:19 and fell behind 16-4 after a 9-0 Bolingbrook run. They trailed 22-8 after a first quarter in which Michalak was held to four points, all at the free-throw line. His first basket came with 1:01 left in the second quarter and Central down 43-19. “Their defense closed the [passing] lanes so quick,” Curran said. Robinson gave Central a spark off the bench in the second quarter. He scored eight points, including the Knight’s first six points in the quarter, but they couldn’t get any closer than 22-11. Central closed the second quarter on a 6-0 run but trailed 43-25 at the half. Their deficit ballooned to 61-31, as Bolingbrook used an 18-6 run in the opening three minutes of the second half; Akenten and Thornton each hit a pair of 3-pointers over four consecutive possessions during the run. “I didn’t think our defense was that bad,” Curran said. “It was the turnovers for dunks and layups. It was them in transition. They killed us in transition. There’s a lot of times they scored and our defense was Lincoln-Way Central head coach Bob Curran talks with his players before the start of the second half during a 99-62 loss on Friday, Dec. 2 at Bolingbrook. Photos by Paul Bergstrom/22nd Century Media Knights guard Chris Robinson (2) attempts to slice to the basket through two Bolingbrook defenders. Robinson and Michalak combined for 35 points in the defeat. still running back.” Bolingbrook’s bench added 39 points to the 60 scored by its starters, who were able to sit out and rest in the fourth quarter. The Knights had a telling week beginning Tuesday, Dec. 6. “This week, we’ve got Lincoln-Way West [on Tuesday], Illiana Christian [on Wednesday, Dec. 7] and Thornwood [on Friday, Dec. 9],” Curran said. “Those are three games we feel we can win and see where we’re at as a team.”
mokenamessenger.com sports the Mokena Messenger | December 8, 2016 | 45 Girls Basketball Griffins spoil former East players’ return to Frankfort Three Griffins score in double figures in win RANDY WHALEN Freelance Reporter There was an “old home” feel when Lincoln-Way Central traveled to Lincoln-Way East for an intra-district basketball matchup. After all, Central coach Dave Campanile was a lower-level girls basketball coach at East for 12 years, with the previous 10 seasons as the Griffins’ sophomore coach. Plus, because of the closure of Lincoln-Way North, there are eight players on the Central roster who played at East last season. There was a lot of familiarity between the teams. But when all was said and done, East was glad to not only get a victory over a group of familiar foes, but to play better in all phases of the game. That happened as the Griffins pulled away early and went onto a 49-31 win over Central in a SouthWest Suburban Conference crossover Nov. 29 in Frankfort. Junior forward Lauren Hunter led East (4-3) with 16 points and added 11 rebounds. The guard tandem of junior Carolyn Waleski (12 points, four rebounds) and senior Bailey Kramer (11 points) also contributed for the Griffins. Only four players scored for Central (4-2). Senior forward Courteney Barnes (nine points, 13 rebounds), who was a key contributor on the Griffins’ regional title team last season before moving to Central this season, and senior guard Colleen Barrett (nine points) led the way for the Knights. East was happy to defeat Guard Colleen Barrett shoots a free throw. a team with former Griffins, but the current Griffins were even happier to put it all together after going .500 in the first six games, including a 56-37 loss to host Lyons Township on Nov. 26 in the final round of the Lyons Thanksgiving Tournament. “We were all ready for the game,” East junior forward Lily Hicks said. “Especially since we knew all those girls. But [against Central], we all mixed together as a team.” To open the game, the Knights, who came in holding teams to 29 points per game, won the tip and immediately slowed it down. That resulted in sophomore forward Abi Baumgartner (eight points) getting fouled and hitting a free throw about a minute into the game. But that would be the Knights’ only lead. They tied the game at 2-2 and then at 4-4. But a layup by Hunter put East ahead for good at 6-4. The Griffins led 11-5 after one quarter and pulled away to a 27-10 advantage at halftime. Hunter was scoring inside for East, and when she wasn’t, she was banging for rebounds. “A physical game is a good game,” Hunter said. “I think we played well as a team. I feel like we’re on a roll now. I feel we’ve come together and are getting closer to our potential as a team. We’ve been working hard, and we definitely worked our butts off on defense.” Hunter and Waleski are two of the players that came from North. The familiarity helps. “With Lauren, her and I have been playing together as long as I can remember,” Waleski said. “We always work so well together. I know that when I pass it to her she’ll finish, and do the right thing.” The third quarter was a defensive one, as the teams combined for 10 total points. The Griffins led 33-14 after three. The Knights trailed 41-19 midway through the fourth quarter, but they didn’t give up. A 10-2 burst was capped on a rebound basket by Baumgartner, which closed them within 43-29 with 2:32 to play in the game. But that was as close as they would get. Leading 45- 31, Kramer hit 4-of-6 free throws in the final 1:19 to clinch it. The Griffins had nine different players score, but six of them had two points or fewer. Senior guard Hayley Papoccia added five points for Central. “As soon as I got this job, I said, ‘Lets play each other,’” Campanile said of facing East. “We came in averaging 37 points, but were holding teams to 29. [Against East], we struggled to score but played good defense. That’s a good team, and I’m happy to still hold them in the 40s. “I told the girls that it was OK to say it was a big game. We embraced that. It was great to come back here, and it was fun.” Lincoln-Way Central’s Abi Baumgartner shoots a jump shot with Lincoln-Way East guard Carolyn Waleski contesting Nov. 29 during an inter-district matchup between the two teams. Photos by Julie McMann/22nd Century Media Jaylin Baumgartner (left) and Courteney Barnes (middle) wrestle for a loose ball with East forward Lauren Hunter.
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