Boys Basketball: Plainfield East mounts late comeback vs Oswego East

Updated: May 9, 2012 10:12AM

Its season-opening 14-game winning streak over, Plainfield East was ready to start another one Tuesday night at home against Southwest Prairie Conference rival Oswego East.

Trailing 55-51 with less than a minute to play, Plainfield East escaped with a 56-55 victory thanks to a three-pointer from Dee Brown and a press-induced steal and layup by Austin Robinson with 22 seconds left.

“Mack Brown and Myles Walters were playing great defense, jumping,’’ Robinson said. “They (Oswego East) passed it so Mack and Myles both doubled the ball. Myles is a pretty tall kid so I knew he couldn’t see over him. I just ran in and stole the ball and laid it up.’’

Oswego East missed on a couple of close-in attempts in the final seconds.

“It was real close, it was too close,’’ Robinson said.

“That ball was bouncing around on that last possession,’’ said Plainfield East coach Branden Adkins, whose team led 45-38 entering the fourth quarter.

A basket by Damarez McWright had given Oswego East a 52-51 lead with 1:34 left and McWright’s three-point play off another move to the basket put the Wolves ahead 55-51 with 58.9 seconds remaining.

“From our experience, we weren’t panicking,’’ Robinson said.

Plainfield East (15-1, 6-0) was led by Brian Bennett (13 points, nine rebounds), Robinson (11 points) and Mack Brown (nine points). Eight players scored for the Bengals.

“I thought we shared the basketball real well,’’ Adkins said. “We had some guys who had really nice games. Not so much the points, but doing some extra things.’’

Kalmon Stokes led Oswego East (8-8, 2-4) with a game-high 22 points and seven rebounds.

“They’re a good team,’’ Adkins said. “They’re very athletic. They’ve got a couple guys who can shoot. Stokes had a real nice game. He’s really active.’’

Plainfield East was ahead 25-20 at halftime after Oswego East had cut the lead to 19-18 with less than two minutes left in the second quarter. Baskets by Mack Brown and Dee Brown and a putback from Des’Nique Harris as the half ended gave the Bengals a five-point lead.

Plainfield East’s next three games are on the road--Friday at Oswego, Saturday at Plainfield South and Tuesday at Plainfield Central. The Bengals return home Feb. 3 to face Minooka, their closest challenger in the conference.

“That will be a tough stretch,’’ Adkins said. “Our next several games are not cupcakes.’’

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