Boys basketball: Neuqua Valley’s dynamic duo takes down Bolingbrook

Neuqua Valley had arguably played one of its worst first halves of the season in Saturday’s When Sides Collide Shootout at Benet Academy.

But instead of dwelling on a half that found them trailing by 10 points at the hands of Bolingbrook, the Wildcats set about demonstrating more of who they are than what the first half may have indicated.

The Wildcats scored 46 second-half points (38 combined by Cole Kelly and Mason Martin) and collected a hard fought 75-69 victory.

“I think just going to halftime that was the key for us. He (coach Todd Sutton) was honest at halftime, that was a super sloppy first half for us,” Kelly said. “And we know that’s not who we are. And so going into the second half we know we can be better than that.”

And better they were.

Neuqua (21-1), winners of 18 straight games, immediately began to attack the basket. And when blended with the sharpshooting of Martin, who hit seven 3-pointers in the game, the Wildcats started to slowly slice into a Bolingbrook (14-6) lead that grew as large as 14 points on a TJ Williams’ (19 points) basket late in the second quarter.

But Neuqua got it back to within 10 at the break and Kelly, who was limited to just seven first-half points, immediately made his presence felt after the break as Neuqua quickly pulled within striking distance.

Kelly (29 points) and Martin (28 points) pieced together a two-man 11-0 run, and Neuqua all of the sudden found itself in the driver’s seat with a 51-46 lead.

Kelly capped the quarter with yet another basket as part of a 13-point third quarter outburst by him, and Neuqua would go into the fourth quarter with a 53-50 lead.

He’d also keep pushing Neuqua along in the fourth quarter. After scoring on a traditional 3-pointer to stretch Neuqua’s lead to six, Bolingbrook’s Brady Pettigrew (26 points) answered with a basket of his own to cut’s Neuqua lead to four, but that would be as close as the Raiders would get.

Martin, a recent University of Illinois commit, added the last of his 3-pointers to stretch Neuqua’s lead to nine with just over three minutes to play, and the duo would continue to score either from the floor or the foul line to keep Bolingbrook comfortably away from reclaiming the lead.

“We really shut down on the defensive end,” Martin said. “Just being more disciplined. I think in the first half they sped us up a lot and were getting a lot of steals. We just slowed down and played our pace and got the shots that we wanted.”

Kelly was much more of a presence in the paint for Neuqua in the second half after a first half in which Bolingbrook controlled the paint and got what it wanted for the most part. But it was a tale of two opposite halves for the Raiders, who scored just 11 points in the pivotal third quarter.

“They outplayed us, especially in the second half,” Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said. “I think we kind of got a little complacent, and then we missed some shots that we would normally make.

“But you’ve got to give them a lot of credit. Todd’s won 700 games for a reason, and they are the best-coached team that we play against. No offense to any of the other coaches in the state, but he’s probably the best coach in the state and now he’s got some tools, some real tools to work with.”

Bolingbrook played without starting guard Trey Brost, who should be returning soon from an ankle injury that has caused him to miss about a month of action. Elijah Anderson also finished in double digit scoring with 10 points for the Raiders.