Five seconds into Friday night’s game with Proviso East, Downers Grove South’s season stood still.
Mustangs point guard Bryan Mullins and the Pirates’ Nick Brown collided while leaping for a pass. Neither came up with the ball, and Mullins stayed down for several minutes.
“I was extremely scared,” said Downers South coach Paul Runyon, who could smile about it after a 67-63 victory.
Mullins sat out just 10 seconds before leading the Mustangs to their first victory over Proviso East since 1997.
The 6-foot-1-inch junior scored all 12 of his points in the second half, 11 of them in the fourth quarter as he continually drove to the basket. He also had seven assists.
“There was no way I was coming out,” said Mullins, who has had a bad back all season. “I did not shoot well at all. I was missing layups. I decided to start taking the ball to the basket, get fouled. Free throws usually get you going.”
No. 17 Downers South (7-0, 2-0 West Suburban Gold), with four of its top six players back from the team that made it Downstate last season, is hoping to break Proviso’s grip on the conference. The Pirates have won every title but one since the divisions were formed in 1987. “These kids have had this game in their sights all week,” Runyon said. “It was just Proviso, Proviso, Proviso.”
Proviso East, which was led by Phillip Perry’s 21 points, took a 63-61 lead with 1:12 left on two free throws by Brian Carlwell. Downers South set a screen at the top of the key on the next possession for Trey Bowens, who nailed a three-pointer for a 64-63 lead.
Mullins then went into his dribbling routine, was fouled twice and made three of four free throws in the last :18 for the final margin.
“Both of our losses we’ve had, we’ve just kind of given it away at the end,” said Proviso coach David Chatman. “I kind of expected that right now. We’re growing. In another month or two, we’ll be a whole other team.
“We are without a lot of experience. I’m proud of what the guys did. We could have folded and this could have been an easy blowout.”
Proviso East (3-2, 1-1) led 32-31 at halftime on a Carwell dunk at the buzzer. Bowens, on the dribble, collided with teammate Sam Carson (18 points), and Carwell picked up the ball and slammed it home.
Proviso didn’t get any first-half points from leading scorer Brown, but Perry made up for it with 12.
Downers got seven first-half points off the bench from Leo Wakefield.
