Boys Basketball: Joliet West goes 3-1 in Classic

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Joliet West’s Brian Edwards collides with Plainfield North’s Matt Fenza (left) and Corey Evak during Friday’s game. | Ray Luna ~ For Sun-Times Media

Updated: December 28, 2011 10:02AM

Metea Valley claimed the tournament championship, while Rich South and host Joliet West each won three of their first four games for a positive start to the season at the Tigers’ Thanksgiving Classic.

Metea Valley outlasted Rich South 62-55 in the championship game Saturday night behind a game-high 20 points from tournament MVP Kenny Obendorf, who hit 6-of-6 free throws in the fourth quarter to help secure the title.

“For the most part in the tournament, we played hard,’’ Rich South coach Scot Ritter said. “We played decent defense. We need to be mentally stronger about running our stuff through adverse situations.’’

Marquell Small (16 points) and John Ruffin (15 points) led Rich South, which trailed 33-24 at halftime and fell behind 41-27 on a four-point play by Obendorf midway through the third quarter.

“I didn’t think we were mentally prepared to play today,’’ Ritter said. “I thought we came out flat.”

Rich South (3-1) advanced to the title game with victories over Plainfield North, Joliet West and Aurora Central Catholic. On Saturday, the Stars fell behind 13-9 after the opening period and then yielded five layups and a putback in the second quarter.

“During the adversity, when they started hitting shots, we started having mental breakdowns in the defensive end,’’ Ritter said. “When adversity hit, we didn’t stay focused on the fundamentals that we do every day.’’

Joliet West (3-1) rebounded from a Tuesday night loss to Rich South to take third place with a 65-56 victory over Rich East.

Center Marlon Johnson was too much for Rich East to handle with 17 points and 18 rebounds.

“It just shows how much he’s grown in a year,’’ Joliet West coach Luke Yaklich said. “I thought Morris Dunnigan (18 points) played his best 16 minutes of basketball after halftime.’’

After a three-point play by Brandon McCullum gave West a 57-50 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Dunnigan found McCullum underneath for a layup and a 60-50 advantage. Dunnigan sealed the win with a 3-pointer that made it 63-50 with 2:05 to play.

“We had a presence about us on the floor tonight where we knew we were going to win, and we did what it takes in the fourth quarter to pull away from a good team,’’ Yaklich said.

Ron Lawton led Rich East with 23 points.

In another Saturday game, Jon Calhoun scored a game-high 23 points and Vince Gooden had 17 points to lead Tinley Park to an 82-69 victory over Plainfield North.

Marcus Fair had 20 points for Plainfield North.