With 59.9 seconds left in Tuesday night’s game, Lincoln-Way West took the lead over Lincoln-Way East. Warriors coach Tanner Mitchell said one of his assistants turned to him at that point and said, “I think that’s our first lead of the game.” It was.

Mitchell’s response?

“As long as we have the lead when the clock hits zero, that’s all that matters.”

59.9 seconds later, West was indeed still on top for a 57-50 win over district rival East.

It was a much-needed victory for Lincoln-Way West (8-8). The Warriors had lost three straight and six of seven before knocking off Plainfield Central on Saturday. Tuesday’s victory brought the Warriors back to .500 for the season.

“These guys fight,” Mitchell said. “They fight and fight and fight. We’re not the most talented group, and we don’t have the most size, but these guys have a lot of heart.”

West’s Drake Been led all scorers with 25 points. Teammate Eiden Kubilius had 10 points, all of which came in the final two minutes of play to lead the Warriors’ late comeback.

Back-to-back layups by Kubilius drew the Warriors back within 50-47 with 1:55 to go. Ten seconds later, Kubilius stole the ball and cruised down the court for a layup to bring West within one.

After trailing the entire game, West took its first lead of the night when Kubilius hit a 3-pointer with 59 seconds left.

“I was just thinking ‘I can’t score zero in a rivalry game,’” Kubilus said. “It helps having Drake to take attention off and open things up for me and others.”

It was a slow start for both teams offensively, but the Griffins’ defense was truly suffocating. They held the Warriors without a point until midway through the first quarter and without a field goal until 3:25 remained when Been made a floater. That cut the deficit to 8-4 for the Warriors.

Each team doubled its point total by the end of the period, with the Griffins up 17-8 heading into the second.

The second quarter started with a highlight as Been was nailed while attempting a 3, but the senior somehow managed to make it and pull off the rare four-point play. That narrowed it to 17-12 with 10 of those 12 coming from Been.

Back-to-back 3s by AJ Smith and Jaxson Bills gave the Warriors a 10-2 run and brought them within 20-18 three minutes into the second. KaiJay Brown and Wes Shelby got things back on track for the Griffins, rattling off seven consecutive points while keeping West off the board.

West got right back in it with the score 27-22 at the half in favor of East.

The Warriors tied the game less than a minute into the second half, but Shelby quickly returned the lead to the Griffins, slight as it was. The Griffins led 35-30 with three minutes to go in the third but managed to stretch the edge to 41-33 entering the final quarter.

Brown made it a 10-point lead for East a minute into the fourth quarter with a 3, but Been answered less than 15 seconds later. The Warriors got within 48-43 midway through the period on a 3 by Been, which is how it stayed for the next two minutes.

Been made a few free throws down the stretch to give the game its final score of 57-50.

Ryan Hegji scored 10 points for the Warriors.

Brown led the Griffins with 15 points, while Shelby had 13 and Jaymon Hornsby chipped in nine.

“Our attention to detail [has to be better],” East coach Luke Yaklich said. “Our team spirit and competitive spirit needed to be better tonight.”