Gritty Lockport effort nets win over nemesis Bolingbrook

Porters rally from 13-point second half deficit

LOCKPORT — When asked if his team’s 58-53 win over Bolingbrook went in the way he would have designed the victory before hand, Lockport coach Brett Hespell was succinct.

“No, it was not.” Hespell said. “But our kids fought and we were able to make enough plays at the end.”

Those plays allowed Lockport to outscore Bolingbrook 16-6 in the fourth quarter and largely erased a 13-point deficit the Porters had accrued midway through the third quarter.

“Sometimes because we’ve lost to them in the past, it is easy to fall into the trap, “Oh, they are better than us,”” Hespell said. “We had moments like that where it was like, well, we can’t do anything about this. After one of the timeouts, I didn’t even have the board, I was just like, we’re better than this. And the next couple of possessions we made shots and executed better on defense and it was enough.”

After falling in the 13-point hole, Lockport came out of a timeout rattled off eight straight points and at the end of the third quarter trailed but just five points (47-42). A minute into the fourth quarter the game was tied on a five-point mini scoring run from Julius Smith.

Neither team was particularly effective on offense for the next few minutes and the two squads traded narrow leads between themselves. It looked as if the Porters might have taken control on a big 3-point shot from Ethan Gallagher, but Bolingbrook quickly turned the game right back into seesaw mode with a Kyonte Thomas basket.

Lockport held a scant one-point lead at the time and managed to get the ball into the hands of Anthony Munson. Munson then went to the line knocked down two free throws with 24 seconds to play and after a unproductive Bolingbrook possession, Munson was fouled once again and knocked down two more free throws to put a relatively rare Lockport win over Bolingbrook on ice.

“We knew Bolingbrook was a tough team, but this team has some heart,” Munson said. “All we did was put in the hard work in practices and we knew we could come out on top. All we had to do was play at our pace.”

Lockport (9-3) even managed to claim victory despite an off night from the team’s leading scorer, Matas Deksyns. Deksyns managed 11 points, but sat a large swath of the first half with foul problems and the Porters still managed to surge despite no fourth quarter points from their offensive leader.

“It wasn’t like Deks (Matas Deksyns) had 30 points,” Hespell said. “It was a group effort. I could go on and on, it was a true team win. Just to keep winning I think will make it all seem so satisfying.”

Jaydin Dunlap led Bolingbrook with 14 points, Kyonte Thomas added 10 and Michael Onsei-Bonsu added eight points and 11 rebounds to the cause. But a six-point fourth quarter effort dropped the Raiders mark to 7-4 on the season.

“You have to give them the credit, because they made shots and they are good,” Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said. “And like I told our guys, nobody is feeling sorry for us because we are playing five of our top guys are freshman and sophomores, that’s just not how it works. We’ve just got to get better. There’s no excuses. They beat us, you have to give them all the credit in the world.”