Bolingbrook cooks up a recipe for success

RICHTON PARK -- Race out of the blocks. Sustain a few body punches. And then finish with a flurry.

The Bolingbrook High School boys basketball team followed that recipe in a 66-54 victory over Lincoln Park on Saturday in a consolation game at the Big Dipper holiday tournament.

The Raiders (6-4) never trailed and were tied only once very early in the game at 2-2. They had four starters reach double figures and were led by Diamond Taylor's 17 points.

He scored 12 of his 17 in the second half.

Russell Burns added 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Troy Snyder chipped in with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Anthony Greene finished with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

"We were definitely more aggressive today as opposed to yesterday (the Raiders lost to Fenger 70-66 on Friday)," Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said. "We did a good job looking for each other and sharing the ball. It's good to see four guys in double figures."

The Raiders jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first quarter at the 5:20 mark on basket by Antoine Cox. They would extend the margin to 20-9 with 1:19 left on a basket by Burns.

Bolingbrook led 23-13 at the end of one quarter. Burns scored 8 of his 16 points in the first quarter, including three straight baskets. He was 4-for-4 from the field.

Lincoln Park (6-5) battled back to within 25-20 with 5:13 left in the second quarter. Then, the Raiders responded with an 8-4 run to make it 33-24 with 1:35 remaining.

The Lions drew within 34-31 at halftime. Michael Gabriel's free throw with :04 left capped 7-1 run.

In the third quarter, Lincoln Park managed to hang around some more. The Lions were within 43-39 following a free throw by Mike Henley. Then, Bolingbrook used an 11-0 run in the last 2:34 to open a 54-39 lead. Four different players scored during the spree. Burns had 4 of the 11 points.

Lincoln Park cut the Bolingbrook lead to 54-46 on two free throws by Courtney Bell with 5:50 left. The Raiders never led by less than eight points the rest of the way.

"We didn't play well early," Brost said. "But once we shook off some of the rust from yesterday we did fine. And this was Russell Burns' best game of the year, by far. He played well all around. He rebounded. He defended. And he controlled the tempo. We did a much better job today on the boards."

Bolingbrook finished with 34-25 rebounding edge.

The Raiders made 27-of-55 shots compared to 20-of-50 for Lincoln Park. The Raiders gained a tie in the turnover battle (16-16).

The Lions were led by Demarko Nash's 12 points.

Bolingbrook next faces Crete-Monee at 1:30 p.m. on Monday in a consolation semifinal matchup.