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Boys Basketball: Plainfield East downs rival Plainfield Central
Plainfield Central’s Logan Velasquez (44) during the first half at Central,
Tuesday January, 31, 2012.| Ray Luna ~ For Sun-Times Media
Updated: January 31, 2012 10:03PM
On the surface, a match-up between the first-place team and the one at the bottom of the standings wouldn’t top a list of “must-see’’ games.
A tip-off between Plainfield East and Plainfield Central, however, is one of those neighborhood games that’s worth seeing under any circumstances. Student sections standing on both sides backed their teams from start to finish.
First-place East had more to celebrate Tuesday night after the Bengals put together a 22-point third quarter to go ahead 49-28 and claim a 64-37 Southwest Prairie victory at Central.
“I thought they came out with more energy than we did at the start,’’ said East coach Branden Adkins, whose team faced an early 5-1 deficit. “I told them at the beginning, ‘You’ve got to match their energy.’ ’’
East pulled away in the second half, starting with a 6-0 run to open the third quarter that gave the Bengals a 33-18 lead. Transition layups by center Brian Bennett and guard Dee Brown and another layup by Bennett got East rolling.
“It’s been like that all year,’’ Adkins said. “Our transition has been our key all year long.’’
“We came out after halftime with a lot of intensity,’’ Brown said. “We wanted to put the game away in the first couple minutes. We came out with that defensive intensity.’’
Bennett led East (18-1, 9-0) with 20 points, Austin Robinson had 14 points, including three three-pointers, and Brown had 12 points.
Curtis Harrington had a team-high 12 points for Central (5-13, 0-8). Andre Norris had nine rebounds but was held to six points.
“I could have done some things differently and we could have made some different decisions,’’ Central coach Steve Lamberti said. “We didn’t execute some things, and when we did it was way too infrequently.’’
Central didn’t cave in the fourth quarter, evidenced by Norris racing back on defense to block a shot in transition with three minutes left.
“No matter what, we’re going to play some defense,’’ Lamberti said.
A conference showdown Friday against Minooka starts a stretch of three straight home games for East, which hosts Naperville North on Saturday and Plainfield North on Tuesday.
“It’s a big one,’’ Adkins said of Friday’s game. “We take care of business on Friday, it really sets us up nice for the last few conference games.’’
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