Boys Basketball: Plainfield East's Second-Half Surge Upends Richards

The Hot Read: Plainfield East’s Jaylen Thompson scored 11 of his 17 points and Deontre’ Brown scored 10 of his 16 in the second half to lead the Bengals to a 69-56 victory Tuesday night in Oak Lawn. The Bengals were able to overcome a 28-point performance by the Bulldogs’ Dominique Gaddis.

Patch’s MVP: Plainfield East’s Deontre’ Brown, who came into the game averaging 17 points per game, scored 16 points and was a force on defense.

Key Stats: The Bengals trailed 23-22 at halftime, then outscored the Bulldogs 47-33 in the second half.

Plainfield East’s Leaders: Jaylen Thompson (17 points), Deontre’ Brown (16 points), Jawan Slaughter (10 points) and Austin Robinson (9 points).

Richards’ Leaders: Dominique Gaddis (28 points) and Javone Shorter (12 points).

Quotable: Plainfield East coach Branden Adkins on Deontre’ Brown: “Deontre’ has been playing hard on both ends of the ball. He has been averaging 17 points a game and his defense is getting better every game.” 

Adkins on Jaylen Thompson:  “Jaylen really has picked his game up lately and he was a huge part of our second-half scoring and defense. He had a good game.,”

Richards coach John Chappetto on the latest loss in a frustrating season: “It has been that type of year where we really haven’t got any breaks. It seems the last few weeks, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Gaddis’ 28 points were great, but we weren’t finishing off baskets and lost too many rebounds. It’s playoffs now and we will get ready and play one at a time.”

Team Records: Plainfield East improved to 14-11 overall. Richards finished the regular season at 9-16.