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Willowbrook keeps momentum going with win over Proviso East

Two down.

In the midst of its biggest week of the regular season, Willowbrook's boys basketball team pounded out another win by hammering Proviso East 85-65 in Friday's West Suburban Gold matchup in Villa Park.

Combined with Tuesday's win over Larkin, the Warriors (18-3, 5-2) can complete the trifecta with a Saturday victory over West Aurora at Batavia's Night of Hoops. As much as they wanted the bookend games, though, the Warriors had their main focus on Proviso East.

Not only did the blowout avenge an overtime buzzer-beating road loss to the Pirates in December, it also moved Willowbrook into a first-place tie atop the Gold standings.

"We really weren't ready for that first game and they came out and beat us," said Warriors guard Neil Paxton Jr. "We've been preparing for this game ever since that loss. We wanted this game really bad. We put in a lot of work for this."

Willowbrook grabbed the lead for good with a 17-2 run to close the first quarter. By late in the second quarter the margin moved to 20 points and the Warriors never looked back.

While the Warriors could do no wrong, Proviso East (12-5, 5-2) stumbled through 15 first-half turnovers and 25 for the game.

And while Willowbrook blitzed the Pirates with run after run, Proviso East couldn't manage more than a 5-0 burst until ending the game with 12 straight points. That came after the Warriors built their biggest lead of 85-53.

"We thought it was going to be a tough battle, and coming in with that attitude we were able to play with composure and a lot of energy throughout the whole game," said Warriors forward Ethan Schuemer after scoring a game-high 22 points with 9 rebounds. "We've grown so much as a team. It's a lot of fun, but we've got to keep it going."

Eleven players scored for Willowbrook, which wowed the crowd with everything from a pair of Schuemer dunks to 10-of-12 third-quarter shooting. Paxton had 14 points and sophomore Everett Stubblefield III had 12 points off the bench.

Four players hit double-figure scoring for Proviso East headed by Quinlan Bennett's 12 points.

"We know that last game could have gone either way, but we're a much better team at this point of the season," said Willowbrook coach Chris Perkins. "We knew how big this game was, and our guys responded."

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