This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Boys Basketball: Plainfield East Warms Up Too Late

Bengals come out flat and Naperville Central takes advantage in a 56-48 win.

NAPERVILLE–With no school Tuesday, and a lack of fans traveling to Naperville Central to lend support, Plainfield East’s boys basketball team came out flat.

The lack of energy early on hurt the Bengals, as they couldn’t get back on track quickly enough in a 56-48 non-conference boys basketball loss to the Redhawks.

Deontre Brown drilled four three-pointers in the fourth quarter, but Central had already established a 10-point lead at that point and was able to hang on for the win.

Find out what's happening in Plainfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We have to have energy within the team,” Brown said. “We have to have energy for defensive purposes, to get open on the floor, to hit open shots. We need that energy as a team. If we don’t have that, it’s hard for us to play. We didn’t bring it right from the start.”

Actually, the Bengals (8-7) got off to a quick start, with Jawan Straughter drilling a three-pointer to open the game’s scoring. And with Naperville Central’s leading scorer, David Niggins, out of the lineup unexpectedly due to illness, things looked like they were shaping up nicely for Plainfield East.

Find out what's happening in Plainfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

When Bengals coach Branden Adkins scouted Central against Wheaton North, Niggins poured in 36 points. Nick Czarnowski, however, was not in the lineup, so the Bengals saw a totally different look than they expected.

“We were prepared to see David (Niggins) moving in and out,” Adkins said. “That doesn’t make an excuse as to why we didn’t play a very good game. We didn’t have the energy that I thought we needed from the start until the third and fourth quarter, when we actually started guarding a little bit and putting some pressure on them.”

Following Straughter’s three-pointer, Central (8-9) went on an 8-0 run and the Bengals never led again. Czarnowski scored the final six points of the run, and the final eight Central points in the quarter. He wound up scoring a career-high 21 points for the Redhawks.

“We tried to start by playing behind him,” Adkins said. “We were going to try to double down on him. They did a good job of getting out of it every time we did. Give that kid a lot of credit. He was able to score pretty easily in the post.”

In the fourth, Central had a 42-32 lead early on before Brown caught fire. He drilled four three-pointers in the quarter, one of which cut Central’s lead to 42-38 with 2:34 to go. He finished with a team-high 19 points. But the Redhawks did just enough to keep Plainfield East at arm’s length and get the win.

“They can look at it as not as meaningful a game, but I think every game is meaningful,” Adkins said. “They’re a sectional opponent, and that’s why I like having them on our schedule. There are no excuses for why we didn’t play well, we just didn’t today.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?