Boys Basketball: Bolingbrook bows to Neuqua Valley
By Blake Baumgartner For Sun-Times Media January 9, 2013 11:02PM
Updated: February 11, 2013 7:29AM
Playing for the first time since Dec. 29, Neuqua Valley took the floor Wednesday night with an eye toward March.
With designs of returning to Bolingbrook in early March for the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional, the Wildcats made yet another statement in earning a 58-48 road victory over No. 1 Bolingbrook.
The Wildcats offense was paced by point guard Jabari Sandifer, who had a game-high 17 points.
“Just like a few of the teams we’ve played recently, (the Raiders) are a running team. We just had to slow the pace down to our pace, control the pace and then just get good shots and knock them down,” Sandifer said. “That’s what we did.”
Elijah Robertson scored 12 points while Pat Kenny, Brad Mikulecky and Darien Miskel combined to chip in 23 points for the Wildcats.
Defensively, Neuqua Valley (15-0) made life tough for Bolingbrook’s 6-foot-8, 190-pound forward Ben Moore by consistently double-teaming and fronting him in the post.
The SMU-bound Moore matched Sandifer in game-high honors with 17, with nine of those points coming in the first half, for Bolingbrook (11-4).
“He still got 17, so that tells you just how really good he is. He’s a phenomenal player. Nice kid,” Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said of Moore. “I like his passing, too. He’s a really good team player.”
Carrying a two-point lead into the second period, the Wildcats turned up the pressure on both ends of the court in outscoring the Raiders 16-6 in the quarter take a 34-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.
