Boys Basketball: Bolingbrook trips at McDipper, again
By Tim O’Brien For Sun-Times Media December 26, 2012 3:04PM
Updated: January 28, 2013 3:46PM
Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost stresses the fundamentals with the Raiders.
Hold on to the ball and hit your free throws.
Do those things? Good things happen.
Don’t? Well, that was the case Wednesday.
Committing 28 turnovers and struggling at the free throw line, Bolingbrook fell 67-62 to King in opening-round action Wednesday at the McDipper holiday tournament at Rich South.
“We turned the ball over 28 times. End of discussion,” Brost said. “Turnovers and 12 missed free throws, do that, and you’re not going to win.”
Prentiss Nixon had 22 points for third-ranked Bolingbrook (7-3), with Kendall Guyton and Ben Moore scoring 13 points apiece.
Trailing by six points at halftime and through three quarters, the Raiders struggled to slow down a fast-paced King offense early in the fourth. The Jaguars went up as many as eight points (59-51), but C.J. Redmond and Moore had buckets inside for Bolingbrook.
A Moore up-and-under move even brought the Raiders within three points at 60-57, but King came through at the charity stripe in the closing minute, connecting on 7-of-8 free throws in the final 57 seconds alone.
“We’re a good enough team that shouldn’t happen (falling behind big),” Brost said. “Our primary ballhandlers were turning the ball over. Not one, all of them. We couldn’t get the ball into the paint, and that’s what we wanted.”
Guyton’s one-handed dunk cut the deficit to five points, but with just eight seconds left, the Raiders ran out of time.
Xavier Robinson finished with 28 points for King (10-3), while Zion Morgan added 14 points and Zachary Branch 11.
Bolingbrook will play Thornton, 73-56 losers to Crete-Monee, at 9 a.m. Thursday. The Raiders have now lost in the opening round three straight seasons, rebounding in the firt two of those to reach the consolation title game. King meets Crete-Monee at 4 p.m.
“We’re going to have to come back,” Brost said. “It’s disappointing because it’s not where we want to be. We wanted to play tomorrow afternoon, not the morning, so we have to be ready.”
Bolingbrook finished 17-of-29 at the free throw line.
