Willowbrook can’t stop Plainfield South
At some point Willowbrook’s boys basketball team needed to string together some stops on defense.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, it never happened.
Plainfield South surged at both ends of the court in the second half, pulling away from Willowbrook for a 71-57 nonconference victory Tuesday in Villa Park.
The Warriors (1-8) led by a point early in the third quarter, but Plainfield South (5-4) clamped down defensively and exploded on offense. A 16-5 third-quarter run pushed the Cougars to a 53-43 lead.
“We’ve just got to find a way to pull it together as a team, just to get those wins,” said Warriors guard Tiger Greene, who scored 20 points in his first game this season. “If we’re winning at halftime, we should be winning at the end of the game.”
Willowbrook did lead 34-33 at the break, but after Plainfield South’s Alonzo Garrett scored 12 of his 19 points in the third quarter, Eddie Presnikovas scored 10 of his 22 in the fourth quarter.
With Christian Hayes tallying 7 of his 9 points in the second quarter, the Warriors wound up chasing too many scorers throughout the game.
“Our defense stepped up, which is what we talked about in the locker room at halftime,” Presnikovas said. “We were giving up too many layups and easy shots so we had to step up on defense. Offensively, we just had to stay patient. My teammates came through, knocked down big shots for us, and that got me a little bit open.”
While Plainfield South made a blistering 58 percent of its second-half shots, Willowbrook struggled at 33 percent, including 1-of-10 fourth quarter shooting.
Greene kept the Warriors close in the third quarter with a pair of 3-pointers, the second making it a 55-52 game at the end of the third quarter. The Cougars, however, scored the first 8 points of the fourth quarter to build an 11-point advantage with four minutes left.
“They were getting stops, and they were getting some wide-open looks,” said Willowbrook coach Chris Perkins. “Tonight was probably our worst defensive effort I’ve seen us play so far this year. We allowed 71 points to a team that we should be able to compete at a higher level with.”
Edvinas Mickevicius hit three 3-pointers in pouring in a team-high 21 points for Willowbrook, which played without injured guard Josh Joiner. He’s expected to return for Friday’s West Suburban Gold game against Hinsdale South, which would mark the first time this season the Warriors have played at full strength.
“We’re able to compete with all these teams, but we’re not yet closing out the games,” Perkins said. “That’s where we’re at with the program. We’re trying to figure it out.”