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Boys Basketball: Kenny Battle’s late layup boosts Oswego East past Naperville North in OT
Updated: May 9, 2012 10:03AM
When the go-to guy goes down, somebody has to step up and Kenny Battle Jr. was the man Wednesday for Oswego East.
The senior guard took an outlet pass from backup center Jimmy Bitner and drove three-fourths the length of the court, beating a lone defender to the basket for a layup that gave the Wolves a 73-71 win over Naperville North in the Hoops For Healing Tournament at Oswego High School.
“Once I saw (the defender) set up to try and take a charge, I was able to get around him,” said Battle, who admitted feeling his foot slip as he made the cut, but got the shot up and got the roll.
“Normally, I go right at him trying to draw the contact.”
He had done that moments earlier, missing a shot and getting a no call.
“You can’t depend on the refs, especially in overtime,” said Battle Jr., who finished with a 26 points.
It included a perfect 16-of-16 from the free-throw line, including 12 of 12 in the second half after starting point guard C.J. Vaughn was sidelined after falling and hitting his head hard on the floor. Vaughn also hurt his ankle on the fall.
“C.J. Vaughn is our starting point guard for a reason,” said Oswego East coach Jason Buckley. “Our flow was gone once he left.”
Naperville North, which had trailed 11-0 to open the game, 20-10 after one quarter and 36-23 at the half, rallied to take a 43-42 lead with 1:04 left in the third when Derek Westerman (13 points) sank a layup off a nice feed from Dave Sinickas, who had a game-high 27 points.
The Huskies claimed a 20-8 advantage in the third quarter.
E.J. Watkins, who had 10 points off the bench, score on a layup with 33 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 63-all.
Westerman’s three-pointer with 38.9 seconds left in overtime tied the game at 71. After the Battle Jr. miss, the Huskies’ Paris Dunlap missed a shot with 11 seconds remaining setting the stage for the final heroics.
“We can shoot the ball when we move it around a little bit and don’t throw it away,” said North coach Jeff Powers, whose team falls to 1-2.
Oswego East (2-1) also got 15 points from Nick Marema.
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