Boys Basketball: Miles Simelton, Oswego knock off Plainfield North

Updated: February 10, 2012 11:36PM

In a Southwest Prairie Conference contest that was closer than the score would indicate, Oswego knocked off visiting Plainfield North 71-58 on Friday.

The game also saw a milestone achievement by the Panthers’ Ryan West, who scored his 1,000th career point in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers led 21-12 at the midpoint of the second quarter on the strength of three-point shooting by Kendal Interial (team-high 14 points). But Miles Simelton (game-high 28 points) and Darion Reddick dropped in treys to close the half, and the Panthers had come back to trail by one at 26-25.

“My coach has been telling me all week to shoot the ball, shoot off the pass,” said Simelton, who made 5-of-7 for the night from beyond the arc. “He said to shoot when I’m open because sometimes I’ve been kind of hesitant.”

When Marcus Fair (12 points) made a three with 2:44 left in the third, Plainfield North was up 38-35. Panthers coach Kevin Schnabel called a timeout and looked good as his squad ran off the next 10 points to grab the lead back at 45-38. West (22 points, nine rebounds) scored off an offensive rebound, and Simelton had two treys and a driving score during the streak. Oswego outrebounded the Tigers 10-3 during the quarter and ran the court aggressively after defensive rebounds.

“Coach said to buckle down on defense and get stops so we can get out and run. We were getting it out and getting easy buckets,” Simelton said.

Plainfield North didn’t go away, however, and pulled to within 52-50 when Jeremy Bert drove for a score with 5:26 left. But Simelton responded with yet another trey, and Thomas Wilder scored on a great drive.

Oswego continued to pull away at the free-throw line as West dropped in two (10-for-11 total) and Elliott McGaughey (10 points) made 8-of-8 during the last three minutes.

The Panthers (13-10, 7-5) were strong on the offensive glass, nabbing 10 to only one for the Tigers (5-19, 4-7). Oswego attempted 17 more shots and made 23-of-27 free throws in the game. 

“Our intensity was flat in the third and fourth quarters. We played hard in the first half,” Interial said. “After half, we are always flat and we have to start changing that.”

“I didn’t know that I was that close (to 1,000 career points),” said a smiling West. “I had an idea, but once it happened, there was just a rush of excitement. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They deserve a lot of credit.”

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