Boys Basketball: Unbeaten Proviso East forces 33 turnovers in win

Updated: January 7, 2012 11:50PM

Proviso East showed why it is worthy of its No. 2 ranking with a wire-to-wire domination of Batavia on Saturday night in Maywood.

The Pirates’ relentless, full-court pressure was too much for the Bulldogs. Batavia (4-9) turned the ball over 33 times as Proviso East (13-0) cruised to a 90-44 victory.

“We always hang our hats here at Proviso East on defense,” said Proviso East coach Donnie Boyce. “I think Keith Carter really sets the tone for us. Keith is a four-year varsity player, and I thought he did a good job tonight of really balancing our scoring and playing great defense.”

Carter led the Pirates with 24 points. Guards Paris Lee and Paris Burns both had 10 points, while guard Michael Nicholas added 15 off the bench.

“I thought in the first half we really set the tone with our guard play. Keith Carter, Paris Burns and Paris Lee, they really are the ones that get us going. We created our offense off our defense.

Batavia actually led 2-0 before the game tipped off because Proviso East’s Sterling Brown was called for a technical foul for dunking in warmups and the Bulldogs hit two free throws.

The Pirates then fell behind 4-0 after the game’s first minute, but responded with a 28-1 run to take control of the game.

Proviso East expanded their lead with a 23-0 run to end the second quarter and headed into halftime with a 60-15 lead.

The Bulldogs had more turnovers in the first half (18) than points scored.

Proviso East had 10 players who scored. Trashaun Carrol added 10 points off the bench for the Pirates and Brown finished with nine points.

Cole Gardner led Batavia with 15 points.

The Pirates’ big runs came a day after they had an 18-2 game-opening run and a 42-9 spurt in a West Suburban Gold victory over Morton.

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