Boys Basketball: Foster's Heroics Enable L-W Central to Stave Off L-W West

The Skinny: The atmosphere was electric and so was the finish in Lincoln-Way Central’s 47-43 victory over Lincoln-Way West on Wednesday night in the Knights/Warriors Boys Basketball Winter Classic at Central. With students on both sides of the gym standing and roaring throughout and players leaving it all on the floor, the big moment belonged to the big man on campus.  Lincoln-Way Central’s 6-foot-8 Brad Foster helped the Knights stave off Lincoln-Way West in a game that featured three ties, two lead changes and bit of Christmas spirit. (Santa and two reindeer were spotted in the crowd). West’s Gino Manzella went to the line with his team trailing 45-43 with 5.0 seconds left. After he missed two free throws—the second one intentionally—Foster snared the rebound and was fouled. He sank a pair of free throws with 3.3 seconds remaining to clinch the victory for Central.

Patch’s MVP: Brad Foster, Lincoln-Way Central. He made 10-of-16 shots and scored a game-high 23 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots.

Key Stats: West made 4-of-6 shots, including a pair of three-pointers, and raced out to a 14-8 first quarter lead. Then, the Warriors cooled off as they finished with 26.7 percent shooting (12-of-45). Central won the rebounding battle 33-29. Neither team was particularly effective at the line. The Knights hit 6-of-10 and the Warriors made 13-of-24 free throws.

Lincoln-Way West Leaders: Brian Skowronski (12 points), Hayden Witt (8 points, 3 blocked shots, 2 rebounds), Kevin White (6 points, 5 assists), Gino Manzella (6 points, 7 rebounds).

Lincoln-Way Central Leaders: Brad Foster (23 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocked shots), Johnny Finnin (10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists), Nick Kowalkowski (7 assists), Matt Mikolajczak (8 points, 3 rebounds).

Quotable I: “On noticed on the boxouts, they really went in hard to try and keep me out,” Lincoln-Way Central’s Brad Foster said. “So, on that particular boxout (following Manzella’s free throw miss), I kind of just stepped off to the side. (Cody James) fell back. That left me wide open. So, I got that. They ended up fouling me, and I knocked down those two at the end. Deep breath. If I knock down two, it’s over. I wanted to win this game.”

Quotable II: “I told Bob after the game I wish we could play about five more times because this was what high school basketball should be all about,” Lincoln-Way West coach Eric Long said of his conversation with Central counterpart Bob Curran. “It’s just fun—the gym’s packed. Everybody’s into it. Both teams are playing hard. Good, solid basketball.”

Quotable III: “It seemed like they had basketballs that bounced on top of the rim and went in, and they we had balls bouncing on the rim and falling out,” Long said. “Did you guys see this, too, or is it just me? That’s just where we’re at right now. That’s the fifth loss by five or less. I firmly believe in this adage—you’ve got to be in ’em before you can win ’em. And I think with our young basketball team that we have every time we can get in a game like this it’s just going to make us better.”

Team Records: Lincoln-Way Central is 5-5. Lincoln-Way West is 1-9. The Knights defeated the Warriors 49-48 in the first meeting between the two on Nov. 23.

What’s Next: Lincoln-Way West plays host to Thornwood at 7 p.m. Friday. Joliet West is at Lincoln-Way Central at 7 p.m. Friday.