Minooka basketball gave it their all, but in the end, couldn’t come away with a win against a tough Plainfield East team.

The Indians faced off against the Bengals on Jan. 17 in a conference matchup at Plainfield East High School.

Coming into the game, Minooka with a 5-11 overall record, were the underdogs.

The first two quarters went by quickly, and heading into the half, Minooka had a 2-point lead over the highly competitive Plainfield East team.

But, East came out ready and battled back and took a large lead over Minooka that stayed and went on to be the final score of 47-37.

“We came into the second half with a slow start and we just didn’t play good offensively in the fourth quarter,” Trent Hudak, junior, said

Hudak was the leading scorer of the game on Minooka side with 14 points, going 4 for 5  from the 3-point line. Adrian Gutierrez also put up 9 points, being the second leading scorer.

“We had too many empty offensive trips. Coupled with blown assignments on the defensive end, that is going to always spell trouble, and it did,” Kevin Cain, head coach, said.

The second half cost Minooka the win.

“We played hard for two quarters, and fell apart in the second half. We need to be able to execute throughout the whole game,” Evan Stonitsch, junior, said.