Lockport boys stifle Lincoln-Way West in Southwest Suburban opener

LOCKPORT — After falling behind 8-3 to Lincoln-Way West in the early going Friday night in the Southwest Suburban Conference opener for both clubs, Lockport coach David Wilson quickly subbed in three players and sat three of his starters, including lineup mainstay Anthony Kosi.

The subs - twins Nojus and Nadas Venckus and Gavin Anderson - performed admirably and sparked the Porters (4-2, 1-0) on a 15-0 run that bled into the second quarter and gave the Porters an 18-8 lead.

Kosi re-entered and delivered a play that got the big crowd, on hand to witness a fabulous Thank You, Veteran’s Night at Lockport, roaring with approval.

Kosi went up for a shot and missed it, but battled Lincoln-Way West’s Luke Gouty for the rebound. Both players had hands on the ball and it seemed like it would be a held-ball call. At the last minute, Kosi stripped the ball away from Gouty and, while falling to his backside, threw the ball up in the air. Somehow, it went in and Gouty was called for a foul. Kosi, who finished with 14 points, made the ensuing free throw for a 23-10 lead. It gave the Porters a boost for the rest of the first half and they went into halftime with a 38-21 lead despite 18 points from West’s Wyatt Carlson, who led all scorers with a season-high 28.

“We knew when we started slow and a few of us got pulled early that we had to get it going,” Kosi said. “On that three-point play, I missed a shot and went back up and got the rebound. We were fighting for it and I ended up with it while I was falling down. I just threw it up in the air and it went in and I got fouled.

“The guys who came in off the bench did a great job of getting things turned around.”

Indeed they did, as Nojus Venckus had nine points in the first half, Anderson had four and Nedas Venckus had three. Kosi finished the first half with 12 points.

Carlson, meanwhile, was the only player for West (2-3, 0-1) that made a field goal in the first half. The other three points came on a pair of free throws by Max Gabriel and one by Drake Been. Gabriel finished with 14 points and Been added seven.

“We were getting good looks,” West coach Tanner Mitchell said. “We were just ice cold. We ran our offense and got good shots from players that we want to take those shots, but they just weren’t going in. I think it got in our heads a little bit.

“You can’t dig yourself that big a hole on the road against a tough conference opponent.”

West managed to get its offense back on track in the second half, eventually cutting the Lockport lead to 41-34 in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Been. But, that was as close as they got as Lockport embarked on a 9-1 run to build the lead back up to 50-35. The Porters led 55-40 entering the fourth quarter.

Lockport was able to salt it away in the fourth as Collin Miller scored 10 of his team-high 17 points to keep the Warriors at bay.

“We knew we had to pick a lane,” Lockport coach David Wilson said. “You can either let them score by committee or dare one kid to beat us. Early on, 23 [Carlson] was that guy, but playing 1-on-5 is hard to sustain.

“A lot of the guys that were juniors last year are seniors now and have more experience in conference games like this. Having a guy like Collin Miller down the stretch is huge. He’s kind of like a possession receiver in football. He’s the guy you trust to have the ball in his hands in the late stages of the game.”