Kent's 24-point effort helps Maine W. win at Maine East
Maine West's Randy Kent provided the offensive power, and the Warriors' defense did the rest in a 55-46 win for the boys basketball team at Maine East on Saturday night in Park Ridge.
Kent provided the Warriors (3-2, 1-0) with 24 points in both teams' Central Suburban North opener. The Blue Demons fell to 2-3, and 0-1.
"I think Kent picked up some confidence in his game when he went down the middle and tried to slam the ball," said Maine West coach Tom Prokopij. "Even though he missed on it, it got him going. I think all of his eight of his baskets were near the rim."
The Warriors' defense forced 14 turnovers and netted 12 points from them.
"We wanted to put pressure on them and force some turnovers," said Kent. "We worked real hard the later part of the week with our scout team. It was good getting a full week of practice to work on things."
Maine East grabbed a 8-5 lead on a 3 from Ali Sabets (12 points) with 4:33 left in the first quarter.
The Warriors mounted a 12-0 run to take a 17-8 lead before settling for a 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Julian Dones scored 6 points and had an assist in the run. He finished with 10 points despite foul trouble.
Maine East made runs at the end of the second and third quarter to cut into Maine West leads.
With the Warriors leading 26-16 with 3:23 left in the first half, Maine East narrowed the halftime gap to 26-20.
A 12-0 run over the last 4:35 of the third quarter cut Maine West's lead from 37-22 to 37-34. The Demons' got 5 points from Jordan Irving (15 points) in that spurt.
Kent was key in the fourth quarter, helping the Warriors build a 48-38 lead with 4:08 left in the game. He scored 6 points and had an assist in an 11-4 run.
The Warriors kept Maine East at arm's length the rest of the way.
"It was an exciting rivalry game," said Kent. "We wanted to get off to a good start in the conference race.
"We had some early season problems with a new system. We had to work on defense a little better and get our plays down better. With this being my third year on varsity I've adjusted to the speed of play."
Prokopij was happy with the win but not the 20 turnovers that the Warriors committed. Maine East was only able convert 6 points from them, while Maine West made the Demons' 21 turnovers translate into 17 points.
"We need to work on getting those turnovers cut down," said Prokopij. "It was a nice win for us in a rivalry game on the road. Now we can enjoy our 10-minute bus ride back to school."