Boys Basketball: Plainfield South holds on to top Plainfield Central

Updated: January 27, 2012 11:10PM

Plainfield South opponents have to worry about Ed Presniakovas and Will Nixon scoring and crashing the boards, so sometimes Alonzo Garrett gets left alone.

The junior guard hit two huge three-pointers in the fourth quarter Friday night to give South a 47-38 lead, and the host Cougars held on for a 50-46 Southwest Prairie victory over Plainfield Central.

“My team needed me,’’ Garrett said of his only points in the game. “It was a tight game and they needed me to knock a shot down. That’s what I did.’’

South led only 40-38 going into the fourth quarter before Garrett provided some long-range points.

“He’s been a clutch shooter for us in many games down the stretch,’’ South coach Ken Bublitz said. “Generally what happens is teams are going to pay attention to Eddie, especially at the end. We’ve got to have somebody when the defense is geared toward Eddie, can knock down a clutch shot.

“That was big. That gave us the cushion ne needed. We used that to last to the end.’’

Trailing 49-38 with 3:50 to play, Central closed the gap to 49-46 with 1:42 left on three-pointers by Zach Warner and Kyle Hunsinger and two free throws from Curtis Harrington. Central missed on a three-point attempt that would have tied the game with a minute to play before Nixon made a free throw with 21 seconds left for the final point.

“I’ve said it all year, we’re not going to give up,’’ Central coach Steve Lamberti said. “We keep fighting. We do just enough to fall a little short.’’

Presniakovas had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Plainfield South (10-7, 5-2) while Nixon scored 11 points and was a force on the boards with 15 rebounds.

“He was a ton, he was a ton, there’s no question about it,’’ Bublitz said of Nixon’s rebounding. “What a tremendous effort by him.’’

Hunsinger finished with nine points for Central (5-12, 0-7) while Harrington, Norris and Steve Heffernan each had eight points.

“Both times they’ve done just enough to beat us,’’ said Lamberti, whose team lost to South 55-53 in December. “All the credit goes to South. We just keep doing just enough to lose by a couple.’’

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