Boys Basketball: Another consolation title for Bolingbrook at McDipper
By Jeff Vorva For Sun-Times Media December 29, 2012 6:30PM
Joliet Central’s Jalen Heath grabs Bolingbrook’s Ben Moore’s jersey in the first half of the Raiders’ consolation title win over the Steelmen on Saturday. | Jeff Vorva~for sun-times media
Updated: January 31, 2013 6:45AM
Bolingbrook brought home a championship trophy from the 40th McDipper Tournament on Saturday but it wasn’t the one the Raiders were eying when they opened play in the tournament on Wednesday.
The Raiders thought they were tournament championship contenders but slipped in the first round when they were upset by King. They won the consolation championship trophy with an 80-64 victory over SouthWest Suburban Conference rival Joliet Central Saturday afternoon in Richton Park.
“Just because we lost the game to King, that doesn’t mean we stop playing,” said Raiders junior Kenny Williams, who scored 17 points against the Steelmen and was named to the All-Tournament team. “We still play our hardest. We don’t give up.”
It marked Bolingbrook’s second consolation title in the last five years at the McDipper. They finished second in the consolation title game in 2010 and 2011 and fifth in the championship bracket in 2009.
Raiders coach Rob Brost isn’t happy with his team’s 1-4 performance in the first round out the tournament the past half-decade, but he was happy his team could finish the deal after the 67-62 King loss.
“We stubbed our toe when we opened the tournament,” said Brost, whose team is 10-3. “From the time of the King loss until today all we could do was talk about what we could do to win the next three games.”
Central (8-6) led 42-39 at halftime but Bolingbrook scored five points and had two steals in the first 30 seconds of the third quarter to take a 45-42 lead and never trailed the rest of the way.
C.J. Redmond added 17 points for Bolingrbrook while Prentiss Nixon had 12 and Ben Moore had 11 points and 13 rebounds. Brost said it’s the fifth game in a row the Raiders had four double-digit scorers.
Central was led by Jalen Heath’s 22 points while all-tournament selection Jonah Coble added 21. The two combined for 165 of Central’s 255 points in the tourney.
