Burford scores 31 to lead raiders
Bolingbrook guard Darius Burford is a scorer who doesn’t seem to care much about scoring.
Or at least he isn’t one to force things.
Burford didn’t take a shot until almost four minutes into the home game Friday night against Lincoln-Way East.
But the Elon recruit still finished with 31, his third 30-point game of the week, in the Raiders’ 78-66 SouthWest Suburban Blue win.
“He could probably score more,” Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said of Burford, who made 12 of 18 field goals. “But it speaks to the culture we have, and it speaks to his unselfishness.
“We’ve had a nice run of allstate guards, and he’s one of the best ones we’ve had.”
Junior guard Isaiah Stafford, who came off the bench on senior night, added 20 points for the Raiders (15-4, 1-0), and Kai
Matthew Evans scored eight.
While Bolingbrook was getting its usual production from Burford, who scored 38 and 33 in victories over Marian Catholic and Romeoville earlier in the week, the Raiders were able to clamp down on Griffins standout Jhei-R Jones.
With junior guard Kyonte Thomas doing the heavy lifting on defense, Bolingbrook held Jones to eight points.
“We did a good job of locking down,’’ Brost said. “I challenged the squad at halftime to, in particular, play better on the defensive end. Kyonte did a great job tonight in the second half.”
That was nothing new. “He did a great job [defensively] at York when we beat those guys,” Brost said.
Ty Slager led East (12-3, 0-1) with 20 points. Burford scored 15 in the first half, including two dunks late in the first quarter.
Slager had nine points and Ryan Sucha added seven before halftime for East, which opened up a 17-11 lead.
Bolingbrook didn’t take its first lead till Donaven Younger’s rebound basket made it 30-29 with 2:17 left in the second quarter. The Raiders led 32-31 at halftime. ✶