Willowbrook flips the switch

It was Willowbrook's turn to be lights out after a 15-minute power outage at the Romeoville Christmas Classic on Monday afternoon.

Despite the delay Willowbrook cruised to a 71-52 victory over Hubbard. Tim Hay scored 20 points off the bench, while Ryan Rader had 12 in the second victory of the year for the Warriors.

"The bench came in, stepped up and did their job," Willowbrook boys basketball coach Chris Perkins said. "This game allowed me to get several different guys in and see what they could do. We saw a lot of good things and hopefully this gives us momentum going forward."

The Warriors started out hot, taking a quick 6-0 lead on buckets from Edvinas Mickevicius, Joshua Joiner and Hay. Despite a Hubbard basket from Deonte McReynolds making it 6-2, the Warriors ripped off a 10-0 run, led by Rader. Willowbrook ended the quarter with a 20-4 lead.

Hubbard got closer in the second quarter, pulling within 8 on a McReynolds 3-pointer. Willowbrook (2-9) regained control, using a pair of buckets from Mickevicius and Greene to push it back to a double-digit lead, 30-18. In the third quarter Rader sank two quick baskets, and the momentum was once again in Willowbrook's favor. The Warriors ran their lead to 46-31 to end the quarter. In spite of a few scares, Willowbrook controlled the game.

"If you don't keep the foot on the gas, you can give them life," Perkins said. "The momentum can change, and we don't want that to change in their favor, especially with amount of games we've let slip. We want to build upon it and keep that momentum in our favor."

Hubbard (5-7) only had two available bench players, and the full-court press that provided it success during the game was sporadic due to a short bench. Hubbard coach Jewel Taylor said his team was simply tired.

"Fatigue really limited us today," Taylor said. "They really hurt us on offensive rebounds and putbacks as well. The fatigue really hurt us."

Willowbrook will face Plainfield Central at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. The victory did come with some hesitation. Joiner went down with just over two minutes left in the game with an apparent ankle injury.

"It's hard to say what it is," Perkins said. "It was the ankle that kept him out for three games. Today was only the second game since he was back. It's tough because we play four games in four days, and an ankle injury is not a 24-hour injury you recover from."