Boys Basketball: Third-quarter push leads Proviso East past Morton

Updated: February 10, 2012 10:12PM

Proviso East is a highlight reel waiting to unfold. Naturally, the Pirates match one of the most famous lines in movie history, Humphrey Bogart’s sad reminder to Ingrid Bergman of their shared past in “Casablanca”: “We’ll always have Paris.”

The Pirates have two.

Senior guard Paris Burns scored 23 points and had six steals and junior Paris Lee scored nine points and recorded five steals as the No. 2 Pirates built a 23-point third-quarter lead before holding off a Morton rally for the 64-53 victory Friday night in Maywood.

The former Pirate great who led Proviso East to the 1991 Class AA state championship, first-year coach Donnie Boyce won his 20th straight game. Morton coach Tony Martinucci has been coaching against the Pirates long enough to know you the team has a very slim margin of error.

“They’re awesome,” Martinucci said. “That kid from Curie [Burns] just killed us. We missed a lot of free throws, and you just can’t do that against a team that good.”

Junior forward Sterling Brown recorded a double-double with 11 points and 18 rebounds for the Pirates (20-0, 9-0 West Suburban Gold). Senior point guard Keith Carter contributed 10 points and five assists.

Up 36-21 at the break, Proviso East built its largest advantage, 50-27, late in the third quarter. Behind 6-8 senior forward Rocco Belcaster, the Mustangs (9-11, 4-6) responded with a 12-0 run.

Playing in his fifth game since returning from a hand injury he suffered just before Christmas, Belcaster scored 19 points and junior 6-4 forward Waller Perez added 17 points. Morton closed the deficit within seven points.

“I was very pleased with how the kids did to get back into the game,” Martinucci said. “We had two straight possessions where we made only one of two free throws at the line, and that killed us,” he said.

Senior forward David Chatman added eight points for the Mustangs.

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