“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

The Bolingbrook boys basketball team proved that sentiment right Friday evening.

Sophomore Brady Pettigrew was held scoreless in the first quarter against undefeated Oswego East, and missed his first three shots.

Senior TJ Williams had just one basket early and the Raiders trailed the Wolves by 11 midway through the second period.

But Pettigrew scored 22 points and missed just shot after his 0-for-3 start. Williams added 20 points, including four dunks, and Bolingbrook rallied to beat visiting Oswego East 69-59 on Friday in the Southwest Prairie Conference.

“I think we did a better job on the defensive end (after the first quarter) and that translated to baskets on the offensive end,” Bolingrbook coach Rob Brost said. “Offensively we didn’t play very well in the first half, then TJ, Brady, Trey (Brost) all stepped up and hit big shots in the second. That’s the type of players they are.”

Pettigrew is a consensus top-20 player in the nation for the class of 2029. That he finished with 20 after a slow start is unsurprising. What was more surprising, and more impressive for the Raiders as a team, was that Oswego East’s Mason Lockett IV, a DePaul commit, was held to just a pair of free throws in the opening period and one made basket in the second.

Lockett finished with 24 points, but for the Raider defense to keep such a critical piece of the Wolves’ roster in check for two quarters was crucial.

“I don’t want to just be an offensive player,” Pettigrew said. “I want to get it done on the defensive end as well. I want to pick up (the other team’s) best player. I kept him to a slow start, but he’s a good player so it’s hard to keep him down the whole game. He got hot in the third and fourth quarter when they needed him. Props to him.”

Again, Bolingbrook’s start was far from perfect. Oswego East (6-1) built up a 9-2 lead midway through the opening quarter that grew to 16-7 by the end of the period.

Lockett’s first points from the field came early in the second on a crossover layup which Pettigrew answered with his first points on a floater. Shortly after, the Oswego East lead reached 22-11 when Pettigrew nailed a triple. Within 90 seconds, Pettigrew cut it to 24-21 on a jumper and his assist to Elijah Anderson with 1:45 til halftime brought the Raiders within one.

A free throw by Dshaun Bolden made it 25-23 at halftime.

It was virtually all Bolingbrook from there on out. A layup by Pettigrew tied the score at 27 early in the third and a dunk by Williams right after gave the Raiders their first lead of the night. Their lead improved to six, but Oswego East got back within one possession on a pair of Lockett free throws with under a minute to go until the fourth.

Pettigrew sunk a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left in the third and Williams hit a buzzer-beating three to give the Raiders a 44-36 edge entering the fourth.

Lockett scored 14 in the final period, but Pettigrew, Williams and Trey Brost remained hot. The Raiders (6-1) led by as many as 16 in the final quarter and closed out the win.

Brost finished with nine points. In addition to Lockett’s 24 piece, Bolden scored 20 for the Wolves. Coach Ryan Velasquez was pleased with his team’s performance the first two quarters, but said the Wolves need to close things out in the future.

“We’ve got to play for 32 minutes,” Velasquez said. “I think the third quarter got away from us. Against a good, quality team like (Bolingbrook) it’s got to be 32 minutes. We’re getting there. I love our guys, we’ll get back to work and just wash this one while getting ready for the next one.”