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Sports
A well-rounded opener : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisA well-rounded opener
| Oswego boys basketball team dominates inside, outside in regional semifinal
| by Matt Daniels
| 3/4/2010
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It's March. That means it's time for Collin Seibert to assert himself. At least that's what recent history has shown.
The Oswego senior center - who came up with some career-defining performances last March during the Oswego boys basketball team's run to the Class 3A state championship game - certainly does that just by stepping his 6-foot-4 inch, 260-pound frame on the court. But when he contributes at both the offensive and defensive ends, the outcome usually bodes well for the Oswego boys basketball team.
Seibert contributed nine points and 10 rebounds Tuesday night for the Panthers, and his presence inside in the fourth quarter helped No. 1 seed Oswego cruise past No. 4 Yorkville 68-44 in a Class 3A Aurora Central Catholic Regional semifinal game.
"In March I just focus on basketball a lot more than anything else," Seibert said. "I get my teammates pumped up. Even at school I'm running down the halls just yelling at people. It's a great time in March at OHS."
Oswego (21-6) will now have the chance to go on another memorable March run and claim its second straight regional championship when the Panthers play at 7:30 p.m. this Friday against either No. 2 Marmion or No. 3 Aurora Central Catholic. Those two teams were scheduled to play Wednesday in the other regional semifinal, but results were unavailable at press time.
The doors at ACC open at 6:30 p.m. this Friday, and a sell-out crowd is expected to cram into ACC's gymnasium, which has a capacity just above 1,000.
"It's going to be a packed house," Oswego senior forward Andrew Ziemnik said. "Our young kids just need to keep calm. We have three kids that have been in this situation last year. We just need to take it easy, be confident and it'll come out all good."
Ziemnik paced Oswego's offense with 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Seibert came through late. The Panthers were an uncanny 7-of-14 from three-point range in the first half, which helped Oswego open up a double digit lead midway through the second quarter that ballooned to 42-21 by halftime.
"The last time we played them they really hurt us in man-to-man defense," Yorkville head coach Jerry Farber said. "So we tried to play a little zone, and they came out and just hit lights out. That, and a lack of rebounding we had in the first half just killed us."
But Yorkville (11-17) did not go away in the third quarter, cutting Oswego's advantage to 53-38, and an offensive rebound putback by Yorkville senior forward Cobe Williams 30 seconds into the fourth quarter trimmed Oswego's lead to 53-40.
But Seibert scored inside on a nice post move with 7:08 to play to quell a possible run by Yorkville, and start an 11-2 spurt by the Panthers instead. Seibert and senior forward Joe Kwiatkowski (seven points, five rebounds) each added a free throw in ensuing 30 seconds while Ziemnik scored inside with 5:40 left off a nice hi-low entry pass from Seibert to push Oswego's lead to 59-40.
"Collin was at his best in the fourth quarter," Oswego head coach Kevin Schnable said. "He sensed it. The kid's a competitor. This is his time of year and that's what it's all about. He's a senior and he's trying to rally the troops to get it done again. I liked what he did on the court."
Seibert picked up his third foul of the game with 6:13 remaining in the third quarter, and had to sit for most of the period. He said that aspect actually helped his play in the fourth quarter.
"I just couldn't sit there and watch anymore," he said. "All my intensity built up and I was like 'I've got to pick up the team here.' I just went out and used my size to my advantage and try to help my team win."
Sophomore guard Ryan West added his fourth three-pointer of the game shortly after Ziemnik scored to increase Oswego's lead to 62-40 with 5:12 left, and the Panthers were never threatened the rest of the way.
Oswego used balanced scoring, along with its superior outside shooting and offensive rebounding prowess to earn the win. West - the lone Oswego player to advance in the IHSA Three-Point Showdown contest before Tuesday night's game - finished with 12 points, all on four three-pointers while senior guard Kenny Jones added nine points and four rebounds.
"During the three-point contest, that really helped me out because it allowed me to get used to the court, used to the rims," West said. "I just carried that over during the game."
Oswego finished 9-of-20 (45 percent) from three-point range, but were particularly effective in the second quarter, burying 5-of-7 from beyond the arc to break open the game after the Panthers led 18-10 to start the second quarter. Freshman guard Miles Simelton nailed two triples on successive trips down the floor to account for his six points on the night, and his three-pointers keyed an 18-3 run during a five-minute stretch for the Panthers.
Simelton also flawlessly ran Oswego's up-tempo offensive attack in his postseason debut, doling out six assists to lead the Panthers.
"They got a lot of firepower out there," Farber said. "They've got some size and it's going to take a good team to beat them."
Oswego finished 22-of-57 (39 percent) from the field, 15-of-23 (65 percent) from the free throw line and only committed six turnovers against the Foxes. Yorkville - which was paced by 19 points from senior guard Tavis Gibson and 12 points from sophomore guard Derek Piszczek - finished 16-of-42 (38 percent) from the floor, 7-of-8 (88 percent) from the free throw line and 5-of-16 (31 percent) from beyond the arc. The Panthers forced Yorkville into 15 turnovers - 10 in the first half - with a variety of defenses, including half-court man-to-man, a 1-3-1 half-court trap, a full court man press and a 2-2-1 full court press. Oswego's defense will most likely have to supply another stingy effort if the Panthers want to get past either Marmion or ACC this Friday and onto next week's Hampshire Sectional.
"I thought we created easy baskets for ourselves because of our defense and because (we) were banging the boards at the offensive end," Schnable said. "It's that time of year when you have to coach them up from November to the last day of February, and just trust them in March. We survived. We advanced and we get to play for the regional on Friday. It's not going to be easy. That's one thing that we've had to hammer home with our guys that last year we were the one's pulling the upsets. This year we have to prevent them."
•Notes: West made nine three-pointers in the Three-Point Showdown on Tuesday night, and will shoot before the start of Friday's regional championship. Ziemnik (eight), Kwiatowski (seven) and Jones (six) also competed for Oswego, but their totals were not enough to advance.
-If Oswego claims a regional title this Friday, the Panthers will play at 7:30 p.m. next Tuesday in a Hampshire Sectional semifinal game. Oswego would play either Marian Central Catholic or Prairie Ridge, who meet at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in the Woodstock North Regional championship. -Jones scored a game-high 23 points to help lead the Panthers to a 66-54 win on Feb. 24 at home against Southwest Prairie Conference opponent Plainfield East. Ziemnik added 19 points while Kwiatkowski chipped in 10 points. The win allowed Oswego to enjoy its first-ever back-to-back seasons of at least 20 wins in the program's history.
-Oswego finished second in the eight-team SPC league standings, a half game behind regular season champion Oswego East. The Wolves (22-4, 13-1) lone league loss came against Oswego back on Dec. 5 at Oswego East. Oswego East beat Plainfield North 69-55 last Thursday on the road to secure the league title outright.
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