NEW LENOX – Mikey Koszela stands 6 feet 5. His Lincoln-Way Central teammates had no problem finding him.

However, it was a different story for visiting Thornwood in Tuesday night's SouthWest Suburban Red battle.

Koszela's teammates kept finding him around the basket. The Thunderbolts lost him a few too many times, especially in the second half.

Koszela scored 20 of his 25 points after halftime – and all 14 of the Knights' points in the fourth quarter – as Central (14-5, 5-3) outscored Thornwood 11-2, in the final 5 minutes 35 seconds to secure a 58-52 victory.

"That was the whole thing, my teammates got me the ball," Koszela said. "I was able to finish, but all the credit goes to them. They dished some good passes."

The assists came from everywhere, with Jarret Gmazel, Aaron Michalak, Isaiah Malone and Mitch Kwasigroch leading the way. Koszela got the ball in such good position in the second half that he hit 9 of 12 field goal attempts to finish the game 11 of 18.

"It started with our guards," Central coach Bob Curran said, citing Gmazel, Michalak and Malone. "They did a great job beating their man off the dribble, their big man left Mikey to help and we got him the ball. If we can beat a team off the dribble, we can be tough on them."

Thornwood (8-11, 4-4) still was in good position until the stretch run, however, thanks to its 3-point shooting. The Thunderbirds opened the second half hitting three straight from beyond the arc, and they made two straight early in the fourth quarter to lead, 50-47. To that point, they were 8 of 17 on 3-pointers.

"If you had told me they would be 8 of 17 from three, I would have said we're in trouble," Curran said.

"You have to credit them," Central senior forward Isaac Panfil said. "They are good shooters, and they hit some tough threes. We kind of expected that might happen. But we kept with our game plan. It was a really big win."

The importance of each game now is magnified because the seeding for the Class 4A Lockport Sectional is only two weeks away. Central is shooting for a top-four seed.

"We're right there," Curran said. "We can get a top four, or we could go the other way. These are the dog days. But with us going for a top-four seed, that might give us an advantage against some of the teams we are playing now."

The first quarter was back-and-forth. Malone scored the final two baskets in the final minute to give the Knights an 18-14 lead at the first break. Thornwood used a 5-0 run midway through the second quarter to regain a lead and led 31-29 at halftime.

The Thunderbirds opened the third quarter on fire from 3-point range and went up, 40-31. However, Koszela scored three straight baskets and Panfil scored off an assist from Malone to close an 8-0 run that made it 40-39. Kwasigroch's 3-pointer moments later tied it 42-42, and Panfil's steal and layup gave Central a 44-42 lead entering the fourth quarter.

After Thornwood's Drew Evans nailed a 3-pointer for a 50-47 lead with 5:56 left, however, the Knights took over.

"Coach Curran guides us through those tough times," Koszela said of the Knights trailing by nine in the third quarter and by three early in the fourth quarter. "We did a good job in the second half."

"Every game of ours has been close," Curran said. "We should be grown up by now. We got beat in the last four or five minutes against Bradley and Joliet Catholic. Today, they shot well in the second half. But especially after it was a 50-50 game, we really did a good job."

Kwasigroch chipped in 12 points, Panfil seven, Malone six for Central. Panfil had eight rebounds and Kwasigroch and Malone seven each as the Knights outrebounded Thornwood, 39-24.