Home at last, Rockets soar by Crete

Crete-Monee can only watch as Rich East's Stephen O'Neal (42) dunks the ball.
(Jason Han/SouthtownStar)

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Rich East "Layed" down the law on Friday night.

Senior guard Freddie Lay scored a career-high 24 points as No. 5 Rich East turned it up in the second half and pulled away to a 68-52 victory over visiting Crete-Monee in a SICA South skirmish.

"This is a big win for us," Lay said. "It's a conference game and our first home game [of the season]. We were a little nervous coming in to play in front of our fans, but we came out, played defense and got the job done in the second half."

Lay had six points in a 14-7 run that ended the first half and gave Rich East (12-3, 3-0) the lead for good at 28-25.

He then scored the Rockets' first six points of the third quarter and had eight points in an 18-4 burst that put Rich East ahead 46-29 with 1:27 left in the third quarter.

Crete-Monee (8-3, 1-1) never got closer than 14 points after that.

"Coach [George Leonard] got on my butt and said I had to finish," Lay said. "The third quarter is always our quarter."

Stephen O'Neal added 13 points and 11 rebounds, and William Collins finished with 10 points for the the Rockets.

Mario Redmond paced Crete-Monee with 18 points and eight boards, while sophomore James Crockett had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Warriors.

"Rich East's guards just dominated us and our mistakes in the third quarter killed us," Crete-Monee coach Rocky Hill said. "We really haven't beaten anybody so far. We don't have a signature win."