The Minooka boys basketball team needed to calm down a bit Friday night in a Southwest Prairie Conference game against Plainfield North.

Halftime proved to be the perfect time for that.

The Indians trailed the Tigers by two at intermission, but responded by outscoring them by 10 in the third en route to a 60-52 win.

In the second half, Minooka got big scoring contributions from sophomore Graham Lee, who scored all 14 of his points after intermission, and junior Nehemiah Brown, who scored six of his 10 points in the same timeframe.

Senior Brady Hairald, who kept the Indians in the game in the first half by scoring 10 points, scored four after halftime, including a pair of late free throws to ice the win.

“We executed our plays better in the second half,” said Hairald, who led the club with 10 rebounds and six steals. We’re kind of a young team and sometimes we get in a rush. We calmed down in the second half, and I think it was the best we have played all year.

“We were able to get offense from our defense, which was big. It’s also nice to have a shooter like Graham Lee on the floor. I know that if I drive and they collapse on me, it’s an easy assist to kick it out to Graham. He can get hot in a hurry.”

Lee was instrumental in the big third quarter for the Indians (10-12, 5-6). He converted a steal into a layup to pull his team to within 32-31. Hairald followed that with a putback basket for a 33-32 Minooka lead and then drove and kicked it out to Lee for a 3 and a 36-32 edge. Judah Calvig (17 points) answered with a 3-pointer of his own for North (4-19, 1-10) to cut it to 36-35, but Minooka closed the quarter on a 7-0 run, capped by another 3-pointer from Lee.

“We were trying to play hard in the first half,” Minooka coach Brett Hespell said. “But we weren’t playing with a lot of poise. You can run around the floor all you want, but if you aren’t doing it with poise and a purpose, then it doesn’t do any good.

“We were a lot more consistent in the second half. We also had to go to full-court pressure, which we don’t do very often. We really don’t have a true go-to scorer, so our defense has to get some points for us on turnovers.”

Plainfield North had its own comeback in mind at the start of the fourth quarter. The Tigers opened the quarter by outscoring Minooka 13-5 to tie it at 48 when Carson Miller, who had a game-high 19 points, made a free throw with 5:08 left to play.

Minooka, though, went back to Lee, and the sophomore delivered.

First, he scored underneath off an assist by Nathan Gonzalez, then drained a 3-pointer for a 53-48 Minooka lead. Calvig scored for North to make it 53-50 with 2:30 to play. Brown made two free throws for Minooka and, after a North turnover, Lee made 1 of 2 free throws for a 56-50 lead with 1:14 to play. Eric Banas (6 points) scored on a putback for North with :45 left to make it 56-52. Minooka got a pair of free throws by Hairald with 36.9 left and a basket by Kyle Rodak to provide the final margin.

“Graham Lee was big for us,” Hespell said. “He’s growing in confidence. When we first brought him up to varsity, he was questioning whether he should shoot and passing up open shots. He has settled down and is more used to the varsity game. He had 19 the other night against Plainfield East and 14 tonight.

“It’s very nice to have a senior like Brady Hairald. He plays so hard every minute he’s out there. The younger guys notice that and it rubs off on them.”