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Boys Basketball: Oswego East claws back to top Plainfield Central
Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 7, 2012 9:57PM
Falling behind by 17 points early in the second half on the road is no recipe for success, but Oswego East team figured out a way to do just that Tuesday.
The Wolves had to get after it defensively.
Oswego East clawed back to take a one-point lead at the half and wound up dominating the second half, en route to a 70-54 Southwest Prairie win over Plainfield Central.
“We just had to turn up the heat defensively,” Oswego East coach Jason Buckley said. “We left their shooters open a little too much. If we contest shots like we started to do, we can force a lot of misses, which we did. When we do that, we’re good.”
The early 17-point lead was highlighted by a three-quarters-court three-pointer from Kyle Hunsigner to end the first quarter. He then forced a steal to start the second quarter and laid it in, giving Plainfield Central a 26-9 lead.
“We thought it was a good shot, but we couldn’t let that get in our heads,” Oswego East’s Kenny Battle Jr. said. “We had to get past it and move on to the next play. We just had to put that behind us and play to the best of our abilities.”
Oswego East (11-11, 4-7) mounted most of its comeback at the free-throw line. The Wolves went 9-of-13 from the line in the second quarter as they closed out the half on a 22-4 run, taking a 31-30 lead into the break on Kalmon Stokes’ rebound putback with 47 seconds left.
“The halfcourt shot kind of stunned everybody a little bit,” Buckley said. “We were kind of in a daze and we found a way to get up and defend and force misses. It could have gone one of two ways. When we came back and took the lead in the first half, that was huge.”
Plainfield Central (6-15, 1-10) cut the lead to 41-39 on a Mark DeYoung jumper in the third quarter, but Oswego East responded with a 13-1 run to close out the quarter. The Wolves led by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter.
“Let’s take (the halfcourt) shot away,” Plainfield Central coach Steve Lamberti said. “Because after that shot, we decided that we didn’t need to put forth a lot of effort on the defensive end. We talked at halftime, it was a 31-30 game, and that’s the kind of game that it should have been. We’re evenly matched teams. Obviously, it wasn’t. They just kicked our butts. They took it to the basket whenever they wanted.”
Battle led Oswego East with 18 points. Stokes posted 17 points and nine rebounds before leaving with an eye injury. C.J. Vaughn added 12. Zach Warner paced the Wildcats with 11 points.
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