STEGER | Despite his team's 55-34 win against Joliet Central on Tuesday night, Times No. 2 Bloom Township coach Jasper Williams wasn't too happy.
After what Williams considered his team's best performance of the year last Friday night against rival Crete-Monee, the Blazing Trojans were flat and sloppy against Joliet Central but still managed to come away with the 21-point win.
"We didn't play well in any phase of the game," Williams said. "I think we had over 20 turnovers. No one played well so I'm very disappointed."
Bloom Township's Zerell Jackson led all scorers with 11 points. Jackson also recorded four steals on the night. Junior forward James Coleman scored 10 for Bloom Township and brought down five rebounds. Johnny Griffin had eight points and nine rebounds for the Blazing Trojans in the win.
"The big problem today was that we didn't come out focused like we should," Coleman said. "I don't know why, but we took them lightly. Our objective was to pick it up in the second half and play better."
Coleman said the Blazing Trojans may have been playing down to their opponent in Tuesday night's matchup. Bloom Township made 22 field goals on the night to Joliet Central's 11.
"I guess that's human nature to play down to a team you're better than basically," Coleman said. "We tried to get better. I started off being patient, and coach didn't like that, so he wanted me to attack the glass hard."
Bloom Township (13-3) claimed a 12-7 lead after one quarter, and a 10-2 run to start the second quarter gave the Blazing Trojans a double digit lead which they did not relinquish the rest of the game.
"It only takes one and when one gets going I guess it picks the whole team up," Coleman said. "I guess it's all about all the support that we have. When one person gets going, it's like a chain reaction happens."
The game was played at Bloom Trail High School, and Williams thought a few of his players may have been pressing to look good for their home court fans.
"At home but not at home, and the kids from this school wanted to do real, real well in front of their classmates, so they were pressing a little bit," Williams said. "This is our first game this year over here and at least three or four of the team are from Bloom Trail, and they were pressing."
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