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Bolingbrook's Nixon takes down Neuqua Valley

There's probably no team Bolingbrook senior guard Prentiss Nixon enjoys playing boys basketball against more than Neuqua Valley.

"I'll scout him and he'll have 4 points, and we'll play them and he averages 34 on us," Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said. "He likes us."

It showed again Friday night.

Nixon hit eight 3-point shots and totaled 32 points to lift the Raiders to a 59-56 victory and the Class 4A Bolingbrook sectional championship, the Raiders' first sectional title since 1985.

"It's a rivalry between us and Neuqua," the Colorado State recruit said. "It was that way before I got to high school and it's always going to be there. When I see Neuqua on the schedule I always know that I have to bring my 'A' game."

Nixon scored 35 on Jan. 6 when the Wildcats won 76-69 in a nonconference regular-season game.

Neuqua Valley countered Friday with junior sharpshooter Joe Sieger, who nailed six 3-pointers himself, scoring 20 points in the game.

"He shot the ball very well," Raiders coach Rob Brost said of Sieger. "He didn't shoot it very well against Providence (in the sectional semifinal), but we knew he was going to shoot it well tonight, and he did. He's a really good shooter, and Todd gets him the ball in great spots."

Senior guard Connor Raridon added 18 points, mostly on drives to the basket. But it seemed like each time Sieger or Raridon hit a big shot, Nixon wasted no time in answering with a 3-pointer of his own.

Nixon opened the fourth quarter with his only 2-point field goal of the night. That gave Bolingbrook a 5-point lead, the biggest lead either side could manage.

"He's an all-stater for a reason, and he brought it tonight," Brost said. "That's the second game in a row that he's brought it like that. He's a tremendous leader, and he's a great human being, which is better than the whole basketball part of it."

Neuqua tied the game at 43 with 6:30 to play on a Zachary Lendino basket, but Dimitri Akenten answered 49 seconds later to give the Raiders the lead back for good.

"We got them to miss once in a while, but putbacks got us," Sutton said of the 6-foot-4 Akenten and 6-9 Julian Torres. Akenten finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, Torres 9 points and 7 rebounds.

Neuqua Valley got the ball in the final minute trailing by 3 and took three timeouts trying to set up the 3-pointer that would have sent the game to overtime.

All the Wildcats could manage, however, was an off-balance shot that missed everything.

"We had a great play, a great play for a 3. We thought it would work. It just broke down," Sutton said.

"We had a couple of really good defensive possessions that were really the key to the game," Brost added.

Bolingbrook will meet West Aurora at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Hinsdale Central supersectional.

Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz

Images: Neuqua Valley vs. Bolingbrook, boys sectional basketball

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