With almost twice as many underclassmen as they have seniors – seven to four – the Bradley-Bourbonnais boys basketball team has had relatively little basketball experience.

And with several of those seniors playing on teams that won a combined 40 games the last two years and several of the underclassmen coming up at a Bradley Central Middle School program that’s made multiple IESA state finals trips the last few years, the Boilermakers have even less experience coming up short on the court.

But the young Boilers have had their growing pains this winter, seeing a few second-half leads slip away as part of a 10-game losing streak they took into Tuesday’s home SouthWest Suburban Conference clash with Sandburg.

That streak hit 11 in a 56-50 loss at Donald K. Turner Gymnasium, the second time in that streak that the Boilers (5-18, 0-12 SWSC) saw a late lead slip to the Eagles (17-10, 4-6).

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 8

Bradley-Bourbonnais' Dajuan Brown, right, is guarded by Sandburg's Jonah Johnson during a game at Bradley-Bourbonnais Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (Mason Schweizer)

While he knew that the way they played for most of the night allowed them a great chance to snap their skid on Tuesday, Boilers head coach Eric Long also knows that the painful moments now will yield benefits down the line.

“You have to be in them to learn how to win them,” Long said. “There’s a dues paying process for a young team that’s unavoidable, and the dues suck. They’re expensive, they hurt, but you’ve got to pay them. That’s the way basketball works in [Class] 4A.

“I liked the experience we got tonight because we were in a battle the whole game,” he added. “We’ve been able to be in a battle for two quarters, two-and-a-half, maybe three, but tonight was a battle for a full four quarters against a really experienced team.”

After the Eagles made the first early run, turning a neck-and-neck tilt into a 30-23 second-quarter lead, the Boilers caught fire when two of their more experienced players, junior guard Kobe Lawrence and senior guard Drew Kubal, each hit a pair of 3-pointers that helped them take a pair of brief leads and a 31-all tie into halftime.

Playing a Sandburg defense that was focused on packing the paint early on, the Boilers, who hit seven triples on the night, forced that defense to extend. But rather than allow for better looks inside, Long noted that the defensive adjustments wound up working for the Eagles.

“I kind of wish we could have kept that disguised a bit more, because when they were sagging we could move the ball as much as we wanted to,” Long said. “When they did extend, the game was played very physically and I thought they had two hands on us for most of the night, and we couldn’t get many driving angles when they pressured us.”

Nonetheless, the Boilers were able to keep going punch-for-punch throughout the third, where freshman Jakobi Pierce tallied nine of his 11 points, including three free throws after he was fouled on a buzzer-beater attempt.

One of two freshmen seeing considerable playing time, along with Dajuan Brown, Long’s started to see the experience Pierce has gained as the team’s sixth man start to pay off.

“With Jakobi specifically, we’re starting to see those more consistently,” Long said. “It’s very much a roller coaster; there’s sometimes where you see the opposite of positive glimpses, but tonight you could really see his athletic ability and feel for the game.”

Those free throws at the end of the frame allowed the hosts to take a 45-41 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Eagles held Bradley-Bourbonnais scoreless for nearly seven minutes to open the fourth, going on a 12-0 run to survive the upset scare.

Pierce, sophomore Trey Lawrence and Kobe Lawrence each had 11 points to pace the Boilers, who also got seven points from junior big man Julian Gonzalez and six from Kubal. They’ll look to quickly turn the page with another SWSC home game against Stagg on Wednesday before they visit Lincoln-Way East Friday.