Last season saw Plainfield South go 19-10 while Joliet West went 21-10. The Tigers have consistently been one of the better programs in the area and the Cougars always have athletes.

This year, however, both teams have gotten off to slow starts. The graduation of Zion Gross and transfer of Ethan Hillsman has been an adjustment for the Tigers while the Cougars have had to replace 10 seniors. As such, it’s been a reloading year for both squads.

Friday night, though, Joliet West appeared a little more restocked than Plainfield South.

Deven Triplett was a man on fire as he scored 19 points and the Tigers pulled away after a slow start to earn the 52-25 victory.

Joliet West (3-3) was prepared for the loss of Gross. The 2025 grad had half a dozen Division I offers and showed why with his play on the court. He’s currently playing for Northwest Florida State Junior College.

Hillsman, however, was a different story. The senior transferred into Joliet West from Tennessee before last year and established himself as a dominant threat down low. He even earned an offer from Arkansas State.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Hillsman transferred out of state again and is now playing for Fishers High School in Indiana. That left an additional hole for Joliet West to fill.

It’s been an up and down start to the season. A dominant win over Zion-Benton followed by a lopsided loss to Thornwood. A competitive loss to Brother Rice, a solid win over Hinsdale South and 12-point loss to Yorkville followed.

The hope for Tiger fans is that Friday’s showing is a sign of things to come the rest of the way.

“The big difference tonight was focusing on forcing turnovers and getting rebounds,” Triplett said. “We’re trusting the work and not worrying about the statistics or right ups or any of that.”

The Tigers have had a strong tradition of replacing talent and staying afloat. Remember, this was the school that had to replace Jeremiah Fears, Jeremy Fears (twice) and Justus McNair the past few seasons. Jeremiah is in the NBA, Jeremy is leading the Big 10 in assists and McNair is playing Division I ball.

That’s all to say, the Joliet West has been here before. They’ve survived before. They believe they’ll survive again.

“It’s a repeatable process,” coach Jeremy Kreiger said. “We’re not rebuilding, we’re just retooling. We go back to the shed, look in the tool box and bring the next young man up. There’s always someone putting in the work until it’s their turn.”

Friday’s game wasn’t pretty early on. The Cougars led midway through the first quarter, but by a score of just 5-3 as the two teams combined for more turnovers (five) than made shots (two). A steal and score by Elijah Wilson capped off a 10-2 run to close the quarter, however, as the Tigers took an 18-10 edge into the second.

After that, it was all Joliet West. Plainfield South made just one shot the first four minutes of the second while the Tigers continued to put up offense. They were up 36-20 at the half after Plainfield South’s Isaiah Robertson made a last second dunk to shave the deficit to 16.

Things got even worse in the third for Plainfield South. The Cougars didn’t score a single point the first six minutes of the second half and managed only one all quarter on a free throw by Khalil Truman. They trailed 51-21 entering the fourth and didn’t make another basket until 5:35 remained in the contest when Truman sunk a layup.

The Cougars (1-5) haven’t had the same pedigree as the Tigers the past few years. While last season was something to celebrate, they’re essentially starting over from scratch this year.

There were some bright spots, though, with a pair of dunks by Robertson and a team-high eight points for Brayden Ablin.

Next up, Joliet West will play at Oswego on Tuesday. Plainfield South will be at Yorkville the same night.