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Sports
Winning on the road : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisWinning on the road
| Oswego boys' basketball team finds success in SPC opener
| by Alex Gasick
| 12/6/2012
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After starting the season 3-1 at the Hoops for Healing Tournament, the Oswego boys' basketball team opened up Southwest Prairie Conference play last Friday at Plainfield South.
The Panthers were able to keep their positive momentum rolling as they picked up their fourth straight win, routing the Cougars 77-44.
"We did a lot more good things than we did bad things," Oswego head coach Kevin Schnable said. "It was our first conference game and first road game of the season, so we'll gladly take the win."
Though Oswego scored a season-high 77 points, they had a less-than stellar start in the first quarter. The Panthers were scoreless until senior Miles Simelton slashed down the middle of the lane for a layup with 4:02 left, which tied the score 2-2. Over the next 2:10, the Panthers went on a 9-0 run to take an 11-2 lead with 1:52 left in the first quarter behind baskets from Simelton, and fellow seniors John Oros, Elliot McGaughy and Jamaal Richardson.
The game very easily could've gotten out of hand at that point, but Plainfield South seniors Alonzo Garrett and Miles Snowden led the Cougars on a 7-0 run of their own to bring the score to 11-9.
Senior Darion Reddick responded for Oswego, drawing a foul on a drive to the hoop and making both free throws to give the Panthers a 13-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was similar to the first in that every time the Panthers built a cushion, the Cougars bounced right back and made things interesting. Oswego built a 21-13 lead that Plainfield South cut to 21-17 with 3:20 left in the half.
However at that moment, Oswego picked up the pressure on defense and forced several Cougar turnovers to end the half on a 12-3 run and head into the locker room with a 33-20 lead.
In the second half, the Panthers came out in attack mode and by the end of the quarter led 48-27. McGaughy (20 points), Simelton (17 points) and senior Jack Kwiatkowski (nine points) all drove to the basket with ease.
"Our outside shots weren't really falling so at halftime coach [Schnable] told us to start attacking the rim with a purpose," McGaughy said. "We really made it a point to go the rim hard and strong in the second half."
Leading 56-36 with 4:20 left in the fourth quarter, Oswego delivered a dagger when McGaughy stole an inbounds pass in the backcourt and delivered an alley-oop to a streaking Simelton who threw down a monster dunk. The play sent the Oswego bench into a frenzy and sucked the life out of the Plainfield South side.
"Me and Miles [Simelton] practice that every day so when it comes to game time we can get it right," McGaughey said. "I just throw it up there and I know Miles is going to get it."
From there Oswego continued to extend their lead to 33 points before the final buzzer sounded. Though the Panthers struggled shooting the ball from the outside, they took 58 shots compared to the Cougars 26, and also forced the Cougars to turn the ball over 29 times.
"We're going to have nights we don't shoot the ball well from outside, but we hang our hats on consistent defense," Schnable said. "Our defensive effort tonight speaks for itself, holding them to 44 points."
Schnable was pleased the Panthers were able to continue to extend their lead in the second half, something they struggled with in the first half.
"We played much better in the second half," Schnable said. We drove the ball much harder and were crashing the boards a lot better after our missed shots."
With the win Oswego improved to 4-1 (1-0 SPC) while Plainfield South fell to 1-6 (0-1 SPC). The Panthers will return home on Dec. 7 for another SPC matchup against Plainfield East.
"Plainfield East is young and fearless," Schnable said. "We'll keep polishing things up in practice and hopefully our experience and maturity can take over."
Notes: Oswego learned its first opponent in the 52nd annual Proviso West Holiday Tournament, setting a date with Lincoln Park - a Public League Red-North member - on Saturday, Dec. 22 at 9 a.m. The tournament was expanded from 16 to 32 teams this season, and play has increased from four to six days. The bracket includes one out-of-state team from Encino, Calif.
Advance ticket sales for tournament games are available now through Dec. 14 at www.pwhoops.com. Tournament play will continue through Dec. 31.
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