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44 | December 8, 2016 | The New Lenox Patriot sports newlenoxpatriot.com Boys Basketball West’s late surge not enough in 55-45 loss to East RANDY WHALEN Freelance Reporter Just over six minutes into the Friday, Dec. 2 boys basketball matchup between a pair of District 210 rivals, Lincoln-Way East junior guard Zach Parduhn looked up at the scoreboard and saw his team leading Lincoln- Way West by 16 points. “Once I saw that, I was like, ‘wow, we have to keep it up,’” Parduhn said. “But we knew they were a tough team. We knew they would fight back.” West did fight back and had a two-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. But another big burst by East at the end proved to be the difference. The Griffins pulled away for a 55-45 victory in a SouthWest Suburban Conference crossover in Frankfort. East (4-1) had a balanced attack that was paced by Parduhn (14 points). Seniors Dorian Aluyi (13 points) and Sam Shafer (12 points, 5 rebounds) were also in double figures. Marco Pettinato (18 points) led West (1-4) with a game-high 18 points and fellow senior guard Nolan Green added 13 points for the Warriors. But in a game of runs, the Griffins had an opening spurt of 18-2 and an ending spurt of 12-0 to come away with the win. West scored five straight points and took its first and only lead of the game at 45- 43 on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Nathan Clendenning with 4:13 to play in the game. But two straight layups by Aluyi, the second with 3:24 remaining, gave the Griffins the lead for good. “We talked all week about trying to get the ball to Dorian inside,” East coach Rich Kolimas said of the strategy at the end. “We told Dorian late in the game that we needed him to post up and stay in there. They were playing man-to-man on Dorian and giving up quite a few inches. They were fighting and battling, but we felt confident that if we could get the ball inside to Dorian he would score and he did.” The Shafer brothers — Sam and senior forward Max (7 points), combined to hit 2-of-4 free throws, and then Sam found Max on a nice pass underneath for a layup and a 51-45 lead with 1:56 to play. After both teams couldn’t convert on possessions, the Griffins clinched the win by hitting four straight free throws in the final 31.3 seconds. They were 7-of-10 from the line in the game. “Once we had the lead, everything was exactly where we wanted it to be,” West coach Brian Flaherty said. “Then one mistake here, one out of position mistake that leads to a lob under the basket there, and the next thing you know, our two-point lead goes to us chasing four points and us having to start fouling.” For a nearly 22 minute span in the middle of the game, West outscored the Griffins 43-25. Problem was at the start and end of the game the Warriors were blitzed 30-2. That left last season Class 3A state runner-up scratching its head. “Before the game, I leaned over to my assistant [Dick Mandella] and said, ‘when’s the last time we had a lead to start a game?’” Flaherty said. “Right now, Warriors shooting guard Jay Bumstead shoots a corner three-pointer. we are just notorious for our slow starts. “I thought Nolan [Green] had his best game of the year. We’ll figure it out. I can’t fault the team’s effort because they came back and did what they had to do.” Aluyi had five points in the first quarter, including a three-pointer that gave East an 11-0 lead with 4:33 to play in the period. Parduhn had seven points in the first quarter, including a threepointer to open the game. An old-fashioned threepoint play by Sam Shafer Lincoln-Way West Marco Pettinato goes for a lay up surrounded by Lincoln-Way East defenders Friday, Dec. 2, during a matchup between the two teams in Frankfort. Photos by Julie McMann/22nd Century Media made it 18-2 with 1:58 left in the period. The Griffins hit on 7-of-9 shots, including a trio of 3-pointers, in the first quarter. “We came out amped up, and we felt the crowd behind us,” Parduhn said. “We were ready to go. It was our first home game. We came out with the momentum and felt really good about ourselves.” Pettinato had seven points in the first quarter. Five of them, including a threepointer at the buzzer, came in a 9-0 run to end the opening quarter to close West within 18-11. The defenses settled in during the second quarter as the Griffins were only 2-of-9 from the field, but they still led 23-20 at halftime. The Warriors tied the game three times in the third quarter, the last one was at 35-35 on a layup by Pettinato with just less than a minute left. But a three-pointer by Sam Shafer gave East a 38-35 lead after three. Junior guard Joey Buggemi scored nine points for the Griffins. Senior guard Jay Bumstead added seven points for West, which was 9-for-11 from the line in the game. “[West] is led by a great coaching staff,” Kolimas said. “We knew they weren’t going to let their team give up that early in the game. Then you have Marco. He’s such a smart high school basketball player who is hard to defend because he can do so many different things.”
newlenoxpatriot.com sports the New Lenox Patriot | December 8, 2016 | 45 Girls Basketball LW East wins big over familiar opponents at LW Central RANDY WHALEN Freelance Reporter Guard Colleen Barrett shoots a free throw. There was an “old-home” feel when Lincoln-Way Central traveled to Lincoln- Way East for an inter-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, 4 rebounds) and senior Bailey Kramer (11 points) also contributed for the Griffins. Only four players scored for Central (4-2). Senior forward Courteney Barnes (9 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 (9 points) led the way for the Knights. Naturally, East was happy to defeat a team with former Griffins, but was 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 (8 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 our 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 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 less. 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 40’s. “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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