Bolingbrook rallies from 17 down but falls short against Homewood-Flossmoor, 71-62

BOLINGBROOK – Homewood-Flossmoor came to Bolingbrook on Tuesday night undefeated, and early it looked as if it would be another easy win for the Vikings.

However, you never count out the Raiders, as they rallied to get within one, early in the fourth quarter, but lost, 71-62.

With the scored tied 4-4 with five minutes left in the first quarter, H-F (5-0) went on a 17-6 scoring run to end the quarter up, 21-10. The Vikings stretched that lead to 29-12 in the first 2:30 of the second quarter, and the game looked like a blowout.

The Raiders promptly put together their own 10-0 run and trailed, 36-28, at the break. The Bolingbrook spurt was keyed by two 3-pointers by freshman Josh Aniceto, who was just called up to the varsity because of a key injury.

During Saturday’s loss to Andrew, Bolingbrook lost star senior Kai Evans to a knee injury, and although his status is game-to-game, Raiders coach Rob Brost isn’t hopeful for a return.

“Right now, Kai is game-to-game, but he may be done for the season,” Brost said. “Losing 20 points a game is big, but I’m certainly proud of this team.

“We called up Josh to take his place on the roster. He is a true point guard, very skilled, and you saw tonight he can play. He was on the sophomore roster, but he belongs up here.”

Aniceto scored 11 points and hit all three of his 3-pointers.

The Raiders kept chipping away in the third quarter behind the play of Michael Osei-Bonsu (11 points, nine rebounds) and Jaydin Dunlap, who led all scorers with 21 points.

“You can’t ask anything more from our effort tonight, especially when five of our top eight are a freshmen and sophomores,” Brost said.

With 6:17 left in the game, Aniceto hit a 3 and 30 seconds later another basket to pull the Raiders to with one at 53-52, but they could not get any closer. The Vikings went on a 12-2 run to put the game away.

The Vikings had a balanced attack from the outside and the inside, as center Christian Meeks, a junior, scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and senior guards Tai Walters and Daniel Reed scored 16 and 15 points, respectively.

Raiders 6-foot-9 sophomore Donaven Younger grabbed eight rebounds and chipped in three points, and senior Kyonte Thomas scored 11. The Raiders missed some opportunities at the free-throw line, going 16 for 23.

“We haven’t played anyone the caliber of Homewood-Flossmoor this season, and and I’m very happy with the way we competed tonight, especially getting down by 17 early,” Brost said. “There are some execution things that we need to work on, but that goes back to being such a young team. We will work on that, but again, certainly proud of this group, especially after losing Kai, but we will be just fine.”