Joliet West boys basketball coach Jeremy Kreiger said it best after his team’s 50-48 win over Plainfield East Friday night.

“You build resiliency in December to learn how to play in February and March.”

That was the primary takeaway as Joliet West earned every bit of their thrilling victory over the Bengals. The Tigers were down much of the contest, trailed by as many as eight and needed a few key defensive stops late, but they ultimately moved to 6-3 and handed Plainfield East its third loss of the year.

It came after the Tigers allowed a series of 10-0 runs in the opening half, but a key run of their own to close the third and some big-time plays late in the game secured the win.

Luke Grevengoed led Joliet West with 10 points while Deven Triplett and Trooper Price each had nine. KJ Miller and Alijah Little each had 12 points for Plainfield East while Justin Paszkowski had 10.

“The energy (in the second half) was honestly the difference,” Grevengoed said. “We were finally hitting shots and taking care of the ball. That’s what it started with and we just stacked up stops. That changed the complexion of the game.”

It was Plainfield East’s contest to start. After a 4-4 start, the Bengals went on a 10-2 run, started by Miller’s finger roll layup. Joliet West responded by closing the opening quarter on a 10-0 run itself, a buzzer-beating three by Price putting the Tigers ahead 16-14 entering the second.

The second quarter continued to be a game of runs as Nana Atakorah-Yanz’s layup on an assist from Miller started an 11-0 stretch for the Bengals. Joliet West was held scoreless until 2:57 remained in the second when Grevengoed nailed a trey, cutting it to 25-19.

A contested shot under the basket by Gyles Agyeman put Plainfield East up 29-20 with 90 seconds to go, but the Tigers closed the gap. A layup by Ryan Lipke with 25 seconds to go brought Joliet West within 30-25 at the midway point.

The third quarter was rather uneventful to start, but the final four minutes picked up in action. With the Bengals up 38-32, the Tigers closed on a flurry. A Price triple with 76 seconds to go started an 8-1 run. Abrey Robinson’s dunk with five seconds left put the Tigers back in the lead, 40-39.

The fourth was as thrilling as anyone could ask for. A free throw by Paszkowski tied things up a minute in and Paszkowski’s layup shortly after returned the lead to the Bengals. Grevengoed knotted it up 42-42 with 5:39 left on a pair of free throws before back-to-back layups by Little gave Plainfield East a 46-42 edge.

Lipke’s trey cut it to one midway through the period, while a putback by Triplett returned the lead to the Tigers. Another Little layup put East up 48-47 but Robinson’s layup got West back in from with 2:41 remaining.

Grevengoed managed to make a free throw with 1:23 on the clock to make the game 50-48. Lipke missed a pair of free throws with 28.5 ticks left and Plainfield East called a timeout with 14 seconds remaining.

Miller attempted a shot with 10 seconds on the clock, but Lipke came up with a block to send the ball out of bounds. Plainfield East got one last shot at it, but Little’s three-pointer near the buzzer was no good as the Tigers prevailed.

“You have to have composure in games like this,” Plainfield East coach Kanwer Sarkaria said. “We took a long time to get together in the second half. We played a good first half of basketball but at the end of the day...we had some chances at the end, we just didn’t execute.”