Ortiz finds Welter for Plainfield South winner

MINOOKA – Plainfield South boys basketball coach Tim Boe walked into the locker room and shouted, “How ’bout those Cougars!”

After a six-game losing streak that included a 33-point loss Friday to Plainfield East, Boe’s team pulled together and rebounded Tuesday night for a 42-40 road win over Southwest Prairie Conference rival Minooka.

“For our guys to rebound like that, I can’t say I’m surprised, because we’ve done that all year,” Boe said. “We started the year off 1-9, and we bounced back from that.”

The winning points came when point guard Michael Ortiz drove to the basket and passed underneath to 6-foot-5 junior Nick Welter, whose layup put South ahead, 41-40, with 1:40 to play.

“That was a nice pass,” Boe said. “He (Ortiz) drove and had been getting to the rim all night. He kind of attracted some attention and was able to dish it off.”

For Ortiz, it was a matter of answering the call.

“Welter does this thing where he yells out whenever he’s open,” Ortiz said. “I heard the yell, and there he was.”

“Whenever I think I’m open or I think I have a good look,” Welter said of the yell.

Ortiz wasn’t done making a difference. He rebounded a Plainfield South miss with 59 seconds left. Teammate Richard Pfister followed with a defensive rebound, was fouled and made a free throw with 4.6 seconds left for the final margin.

South (9-17, 6-6) got balanced scoring from its starting five. Pfister led with nine points; Ortiz contributed eight points and seven rebounds; and Welter, Shane Ritter and Dexter Oyewo each had six points. The Cougars were playing without leading scorer Jacob Buchner.

“We were sharing the ball really well tonight, passing it around,” Welter said. “It helps a lot when we share the ball.”

South led, 24-16, at halftime, but Minooka rallied in the third quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Larry Roberts preceded two baskets by Jon Butler, including a driving layup in the lane that cut South’s lead to 32-30 going into the fourth quarter.

Joe Butler hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to put Minooka ahead, 33-32, and the game stayed close to the end.

“They made runs, we made runs, but we toughed it out,” Ortiz said.

Plainfield South was 16 of 31 from the field, and Minooka was 15 of 39.

Roberts led Minooka (13-13, 6-6) with 11 points, and Joe Butler finished with 10. Blake Parzych had six points and nine rebounds.

Afterward, the second-half comeback wasn’t the first thing on the mind of Minooka coach Scott Tanaka.

“We can’t come out flat and expect to win a basketball game,” he said. “We haven’t been able to learn that.”

Minooka has conference games remaining against Plainfield Central and Oswego. Plainfield South finishes its conference season with home games against Oswego East and Romeoville.

“We’re not really in the conference race, but we’re going to finish it strong,” Ortiz said.

“Coming off a few losses – this will be a big boost,” Welter said.