Boys Basketball: Bolingbrook bows in Morris Shootout semis
By Jeff Vorva For Sun-Times Media June 27, 2012 10:58PM
Bolingbrook's Ben Moore (right). | File photo
Summer
Sidelines
One in an occasional series on Joliet-area athletes and teams gearing up for the 2012-13
high school season.
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Updated: July 29, 2012 5:04PM
When the 2012-13 season begins in the cold month of November, perhaps the Bolingbrook boys basketball team can draw on the hot month it had in June as a spark.
The Raiders are making their case to become an area power in the winter and have displayed flashes of brilliance during summer play.
Although the Raiders closed their June session with a 62-50 loss to Waubonsie Valley in the final four round Wednesday of the 32-team Morris Shootout, they finished with a monster record of 30-3 this month.
“It’s not about the wins and losses in the summer,” Raiders coach Rob Brost said. “But it’s better to be on the upper side than the lower side. We have shown that when we play together, we have a chance to be pretty good. But we’ve had some issues with our free-throw shooting. We have to get a little more experience.”
Edwardsville needed two Tre Harris free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime to pull off a 53-51 victory over Waubonsie Valley to win its first Morris Shootout title.
Bolingbrook was hoping to become just the second area school in the 27 years of the tournament to win the Shootout. (Seneca won the crown in 2005.) But Waubonsie scored nine points in a row in the middle of the second half to pull away to dash Bolingbrook’s hopes in the semis.
Herald-News All-Area team returnee Ben Moore, a 6-foot-7 senior, led the Raiders with 19 points, adding five rebounds and three blocked shots. Kenny Williams, a 6-foot-6 junior who averaged 5 points per game as a sophomore on the varsity, added 14 points, including 10 in the first eight minutes of the game.
“Kenny has played really well this summer,” Brost said. “He has improved a lot. He’s one of our go-to guys. He’s learned how to handle the post. With an All-Stater coming back (Moore), Kenny and some good young guards, we should do well. Ben gets a lot of the attention but we have some other good players.”
The Raiders made it to the semifinals after knocking off Niles North 66-46 and Plainfield East 49-35 earlier in the day. That came a day after Bolingbrook won its pool, beating Julian 71-69, Kankakee 62-29 and Plainfield North 76-55.
The Raiders were 16-8 last season on the varsity level and 14-9 on the sophomore level.
Plainfield East made it to the final eight in the championship division after beating Deerfield 41-29. The Bengals were eliminated by Bolingbrook in the quarterfinals.
Plainfield South made it to the consolation championship before losing 84-46 to Normal. To get to the title game, the Cougars beat rival Plainfield North 55-38 in the semifinals.
Joliet West, which had a 2-1 mark in pool play Tuesday, had a rough go of it Wednesday. The Tigers dropped a 51-47 decision to Schaumburg in the first round of the championship bracket and fell 52-42 to Plainfield South in the consolation quarterfinals.
