ROMEOVILLE -- He rained down the three-ball from the corner pocket. And he had his way under the basket, too.
Brandon Bonds erupted for 32 points in Plainfield South High School's 76-74 overtime boys basketball victory over Romeoville on Tuesday night.
He scored 25 points in the second half -- and 10 in the 4-minute overtime session.
His biggest contribution, though, in a thrilling rally that saw South twice overturn 12-point deficits came on defense.
Bonds, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, leaped high in the air to deflect a pass near the midcourt stripe, the score tied 73-73 and Romeoville looking to spread the floor in a bid to run out the clock and win on a last shot. The Cougars trapped Romeoville guard Demarius Miller. His pass floated in the direction of 5-10 senior Alan Farmer.
Bonds saw an opportunity and turned into a defensive back.
He tipped Miller's pass to himself and then came down with the interception. He raced the other direction and scored what amounted to a defensive touchdown. His layup put South ahead 75-73 with 41 seconds left. After Romeoville closed within 75-74 on Earl Bell's free throw with :08.8 remaining, Luke Gundersen sank the first of two free throws to push the Cougars' lead back to 76-74.
And all Romeoville could do was watch as Bell's desperation heave from halfcourt missed its mark.
Gundersen. a 6-3, 210-pound football tight end/linebacker who is headed to St. Francis, scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. He moved outside the box often enough to burn the Spartans' defense with his own dead-eye shooting. He made three 3-pointers as South (9-12, 3-7) gained a split in the two-game Southwest Prairie Conference series with Romeoville. The Spartans won the opener 79-73 on Dec. 9 at Plainfield South.
The Cougars, after hitting 8-of-11 shots in the first quarter and building a 20-16 lead, dug themselves nearly an insurmountable hole through a series of turnovers, some forced and others not. Romeoville (9-11, 5-4) employed a halfcourt trap and pounced on 12 South turnovers in the second quarter.
The Spartans went on runs of 7-0 and 17-4 to open a 33-24 lead. Miller capped the flurry with a fastbreak basket off a feed from Sam Yi.
A few minutes later, Nathan Johnson's putback sent Romeoville into the locker room at halftime with a 40-28 lead.
The two teams exchanged baskets as momentum shifted back and forth in the third quarter. Bonds cut the Cougars' deficit to 54-42 on a jumper with :23 left.
Then, in the fourth quarter, Bonds and Gundersen ignited a 7-0 run for South, both hitting 3-balls during the spurt. Ed Presniakovas' 3 tied the game 56-56. And it remained tied at 58-58 and 60-60.
Romeoville took a 62-60 lead on Farmer's rebound basket with 1:35 left in regulation. South tied the score on a basket by Rodney Johnson seconds later. He snuck into the lane following a missed free throw and took a feed from Gundersen for a layup.
"Well, we just said to each other we were going to stick to defense," Gundersen said. "Once we get the defense going, the offense will come."
Bonds said the Cougars' halftime pep talk from coach Ken Bublitz centered on settling down -- and taking better care of the basketball.
"We were struggling a little bit," Bonds said. "I guess their defense got to us. We were making too many mistakes.
"But halftime came and we got back into it. We thought out what we were going to do and came out and did it. Coach said we were playing the way we were supposed to except for the turnovers. That's what was beating us. We were playing good defense. It was just the turnovers.
"Their defense is very good. Their pressure is good. But we overcame it."
Said Bublitz: "We just went back to some of the things we do on a regular basis. Romeoville was able to get us to go a little faster than we wanted to, so it was just about using a ball-fake, sweeping the ball and making sure you step through the traps and making sure we were meeting passes. It wasn't a huge adjustment. But our kids did a great job. We didn't hang our heads."
Once the Cougars broke from Romeoville's trap, they put the ball in Bonds' hands. And he knew what to do with it. He made 12-of-18 shots, including three 3s.
"Both Eddie (Presniakovas) and Luke (Gundersen) -- they're very good players," Bonds said. "Just because their defense was zoning in on them, it gave me a chance to open up my offense. They looked down low and got me the ball. I was open in the corners a lot. They kept leaving me open, and my guys kept feeding it to me. They saw the open player and gave it to me."
Romeoville was paced by 6-7 sophomore Devon Hodges, a University of Wisconsin recruit. He scored 17 points, grabbed six rebounds and probably blocked another half-dozen shots. Miller finished with 16 points, Johnson 15 and Farmer 10.
"Well, what happens is, you've got a big lead, and you're playing a team like Plainfield South, which is not going to quit," Romeoville coach Jeff Bambule said. "The same thing happened last time at their place.
"We had a big lead. They made a comeback. Then, you've got a 12-point lead and you don't respect the game. You come down and take a couple of bad shots. You're careless with the ball. And they're relentless and they keep coming. And they didn't quit. You've got to respect the game.
"And we didn't respect the game. We show glimpses of being a good basketball team and then we throw it away because -- I don't know what it is."
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