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Sports
En guard : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisEn guard
| Oswego East's backcourt tandem leads Wolves into tourney title game
| by Matt Daniels
| 12/31/2009
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You know it's a big game when alternate uniforms come out of the closet.
Such was the case on Tuesday night for the Oswego East boys basketball team - who were dressed in black jerseys with navy blue trim for only the second time ever in school history - in its final pool play game against East Aurora in the 44th East Aurora Holiday Classic.
And what a game it was.
Spurred by the steady backcourt play of senior guard Jordon Harris and junior guard Wesley Brooks, the Wolves were able to come away with an 83-78 win on the Tomcats home court in front of a raucous crowd.
"The crowd really helped pumped me up," Brooks said. "It gave me a lot of energy as far as after playing two games (on Monday). My legs were dead but the crowd really gave me some energy."
The victory - coupled with the Wolves' 84-60 win against Belvidere North on Monday and their 73-54 win against Urban Prep, also on Monday - advanced Oswego East (8-3) to Wednesday night's championship game against Peoria Central. Both teams went 3-0 in pool play, with the Wolves winning the Black Division while the Lions won the Red Division. Results of Wednesday's championship game were unavailable at press time.
Tuesday night's game featured 13 lead changes and six ties, but it was the play of the smallest player on the court late that stood out big.
Brooks scored 11 of his 22 points in the final period, most on drives to the basket that resulted in a conventional three-point play for the 5-foot-8 junior.
"I knew they knew I could hit the three now, so that kind of opened up the lane for me," said Brooks, who was 3-of-4 on his three-point attempts in the game. "They had to respect me on my three-pointer (so) I just took it and finished."
East Aurora (7-3) took its final lead of the game, 68-66, on a traditional three-point play from junior standout guard Ryan Boatright (game-high 34 points) with 5:13 let to play.
But Harris answered right back in the matchup of two of the premier guards in the Chicagoland area with a three-pointer from the right corner with 4:59 left to put Oswego East out in front 69-68.
Harris finished with 32 points on the night to lead the Wolves, and was efficient in doing so. He connected on 11-of-20 from the field, including 5-of-13 from three-point range, to help the Wolves sustain East Aurora's repeated offensive outbursts.
"My jump shot was coming along real well," Harris said. "That's what opened everything else up. We were all tired, but we all knew we had to fight through it and get it done. That's what we did."
Brooks showcased his strength with the ball and superior ball control on three possessions late, with the game in the balance. He single-handedly broke East Aurora's 1-2-2 ball press with his dribble, which allowed him to go in for a layup with 4:05 left.
He made the layup, was fouled on the play and sank his free throw to give Oswego East a 72-68 lead.
Brooks - who also finished with eight assists - was at it again with the score at 72-70 and less than four minutes left. He drove the right baseline, sought contact, threw up a layup that dropped and was fouled. He again converted the free throw to push Oswego East's lead to 75-70 with 3:04 to play.
"He never gets rattled, but he never gets too high," Oswego East head coach Jason Buckley said. "He makes a big shot (and he's like) 'All right, we've got to go play some 'D.' That's awesome. As a coach you want your point guard to be as solid as possible. We were really proud of the way Wes played."
Both teams traded free throws on their subsequent possessions, and Oswego East held a 77-74 lead with less than two minutes left.
But Brooks once more drove down the heart of the Tomcats defense, and with essentially two East Aurora players draped over him, tossed up a layup that fell through with 1:52 remaining and was fouled. Brooks - who made 5-of-5 from the free throw line - made his foul shot to push Oswego East's lead to 80-74.
However, four points by East Aurora senior guard Gio Padilla in a 16-second span cut the Wolves' lead to 80-78 with 1:26 left.
Oswego East successfully broke the Tomcats' full-court man-to-man press after Padilla converted a free throw, and had two shots near the rim fall short. A scramble ensued, but junior forward Sean Gant and junior forward Derek Drew both dove on the floor and a jump ball was called, giving the ball back to the Wolves.
Harris answered with a driving layup with 57 seconds left to make it 82-78, and the Tomcats did not help themselves with two straight missed field goals, followed by two missed free throws from senior forward Tramell Weathersby (22 points).
Oswego East extended its lead to 83-78 with 28.6 seconds left after Harris made one of his two free throws, and senior forward Johnny Savu kept Boatright in check late. Savu, who was the primary defender on the lightning-quick junior for most of the evening, had a hand in Boatright's face on two three-point attempts by Boatright in the final 20 seconds, both of which missed badly.
"I just tried to keep in front of him," said Savu, who added four points and five rebounds. "He's probably the best player I've ever guarded and he still scored 34, so there's not much I can really brag about. But I felt like I did my best to keep him in front and make him kick a little more or make him force a bad shot."
The Wolves led throughout the first quarter, taking a 24-18 lead into the second quarter. Oswego East enjoyed its biggest lead of the night at 30-20 following a three-pointer from Gant (12 points, eight rebounds) with 7:07 left before halftime.
But the Tomcats' ball press flustered Oswego East at times, causing numerous turnovers and spurring a 19-4 run by East Aurora to help the Tomcats go into the locker room up 45-42.
"It's just a matter of controlling (East Aurora's runs)," Buckley said. "They're going to have runs of six or eight, but you've got to make sure they're not 10 or 12. Normally we say we've got to keep the runs down to six, but (East Aurora is) too athletic and too good not to have bigger runs. So I thought we controlled their runs very well. I don't think we controlled East Aurora very well necessarily (but) they can't be controlled, especially Ryan Boatright."
Oswego East took a 57-52 lead midway through the third quarter thanks to back-to-back three-pointers from Harris and Gant, and the Wolves went into the fourth quarter ahead 64-58.
Oswego East also received a steady contribution from Drew, who ended the game with 10 points to go along with 10 rebounds. He consistently made mid-range jump shots while he also played a key role in terms of the Wolves controlling the rebounding column, 38-30.
"We talk about prepare and your opportunity will come. His opportunity came and he took full advantage," Buckley said "He knocked down some huge shots early and he was a ton defensively. He had some huge boards and I can't say enough about what he did."
The Wolves finished 29-of-59 (49 percent) from the field and 11-of-23 (48 percent) from three-point range while making 14-of-19 (74 percent) from the free throw line. East Aurora, meanwhile, finished 29-of-62 (47 percent) from the field, 7-of-17 (41 percent) from beyond the arc and 13-of-22 (59 percent) from the foul line.
"We had to make plays, and that was the biggest thing," Buckley said. "When push came to shove, we were able to make just a couple more plays than they did."
Notes: Much of the pre-game buzz was focused on East Aurora junior guard Letrell "Snoop" Viser, who would have faced off against his old team in Oswego East for the first time. But Viser - who was Oswego East's second-leading scorer last season and transferred to East Aurora at the start of the school year - did not play and was dressed in street clothes behind the Tomcats' bench.
Buckley received a technical foul with 5:17 left in the third quarter for disputing a call by one of the officials and Oswego East ahead 66-63. Weathersby converted a layup on the other end of the floor even though it sounded like the whistle had already blown, which should have negated Weathersby's layup. The officials counted the layup to make it 66-65, but Weathersby missed both his free throws and Oswego East was able to sustain the technical foul.
"I was more worried about our guys losing focus," Buckley said. "But I thought our guys responded very well. That's not something I want to do is get a (technical) so our guys respond. That was not the intent."
The Wolves had to play twice on Monday after snowstorms prevented Belvidere North from traveling to play last Saturday. In the win against Belvidere North, Oswego East led 30-18 at the end of the first quarter and expanded its lead to 52-36 at halftime before taking a 64-46 lead into the fourth quarter.
Harris led Oswego East with 32 points on 12-of-17 shooting, including 5-of-7 from three-point range. He also grabbed five rebounds and handed out seven assists while Brooks added 17 points and five assists, sophomore guard Kenny Battle Jr. contributed 15 points and Gant added 12 points.
The Wolves finished strong against Urban Prep to secure the 19-point win. Oswego East led 12-8 at the end of the first quarter and went into halftime ahead 33-20. Urban Prep cut its deficit to 51-41 to start the fourth quarter, but Oswego East outscored Urban Prep 22-13 in the fourth quarter.
Junior center Austin Keys led the way offensively for the Wolves with 18 points while Harris added 16 points and five assists. Brooks had a solid game with 14 points and seven assists while Gant also contributed 14 points.
Once play ends at the East Aurora Holiday Classic for the Wolves, Oswego East does not return to the court until 7 p.m. on Jan. 8, when the Wolves host Southwest Prairie Conference foe Minooka.
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