Boys Basketball: Lincoln-Way East gets past Lockport

• Reprints

Updated: March 23, 2012 8:13AM

Lincoln-Way East was in a tailspin for a while.

“We were in a lull, all right,” coach Rich Kolimas said. “It was called the month of January.”

But that was then. The new and improving Griffins rode the back-door cuts of senior guard Gavin Walsh and the inside play of 6-foot-5 senior center Joel Magrum in the fourth quarter to a 45-40 SouthWest Suburban Blue victory Tuesday night over Lockport.

“How about Gavin? Those were beautiful back-door cuts,” Kolimas said of Walsh, who turned three such maneuvers into huge baskets and scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half, when he did not miss a shot or free throw.

“Coach likes it when we share the ball like we did tonight,” Walsh said. “He said we hadn’t ever had much success in this gym (at Lockport East), but we’re starting to play well as a team.”

Magrum contributed seven of his 11 points and four of his eight rebounds in the fourth quarter when East (11-14, 4-9) outscored Lockport (16-10, 6-7) 17-9 to overcome a 31-28 third-quarter deficit. Magrum’s three-point play with 1:09 left gave the Griffins a 41-40 lead, he made two free throws with :33 left and Walsh nailed two more with :19 remaining.

“I set a screen for Jay (Yancy) and went to the basket, and ball came off and ended up in my hands,” Magrum said of his decisive three-point play.

“This game goes to the Lincoln-Way East kids,” Porters coach Lawrence Thompson Jr. said. “They did a better job executing offensively at the end.”

The Porters were undersized with 6-5 forward David Robinson still out with an ankle injury and 6-5 Andrew Gosney sidelined with illness. Robinson may not return this season.

While Lockport forced 17 East turnovers in the first half, the Griffins owned a 22-8 rebounding edge in that span. The result was a 22-20 Porters’ lead at the break.

“What we gained with turnovers, we gave right back,” Thompson said. “When we get chances, we have to be able to put the ball in the basket.”

Kyle Ward led Lockport with 15 points. “Ward hit those three threes in the first quarter, and we shifted our zone to more of a 3-2 so we could match up on top,” Kolimas said. “That helped.

“But anytime we play them it seems like it’s a muddy game. We were slopping around. We were happy to be down 22-20 at half.”