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Boys Basketball: Crane runs past Plainfield Central for tourney title
Updated: December 30, 2011 11:08PM
Plainfield Central will remember Crane’s one and only appearance in the Romeoville Christmas Classic as the athletic Cougars asserted themselves in the second quarter on their way to a 51-35 victory over the Wildcats in Thursday night’s championship game.
“When you play a really good team, you can’t play average and win,’’ Plainfield Central coach Steve Lamberti said. “We played average tonight. But a lot of it has to do with them. They’re an excellent defensive team. They’ve got a ton of skill, a ton of athletes.’’
Coach Chris Head said Crane (8-3) has already committed to play in the Pekin Holiday Tournament next season, but not because the Public League team was unhappy at Romeoville.
“I did not think the field would be this good,’’ Head said. “The tournament was run just as well as Proviso West, Pontiac and all the other tournaments. It’s a great place to come play.’’
It would have been great for Plainfield Central if 6-foot-7 Andre Norris didn’t pick up his third foul early in the second quarter to help Crane grab a 26-12 halftime lead.
“That’s not why we lost,’’ Lamberti said. “Obviously, we’d like to see one of our better players play a little more than he was able to tonight.’’
Zach Warner led Central (5-8) with 13 points and Norris finished with 10.
Issaiah Hayes had a game-high 16 points for Crane and tournament MVP Willie Conner had 14.
“We really showed a lot of maturity tonight, I can’t be more excited about how we played,’’ said Head, who then laughed a little. “The problem is what happens when we play bad? We set the bar pretty high today.’’
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