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Sports
Wolves on the rise : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisWolves on the rise
| Confidence builds as Oswego East wins two, places fourth at East Aurora
| by Kristin Sharp
| 1/3/2013
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The Oswego East boys' basketball team came close to its goal of a 3-1 finish in a heated battle with defending Class 3A state champion Peoria Central last Saturday in the third-place game of the East Aurora Holiday Tournament.
Despite pulling within three points with 33 seconds left to play after a traditional three-point play by Oswego East senior CJ Vaughan, the Wolves failed to execute in the final stretch, falling 71-68.
Oswego East's fourth-place finish and 2-2 tournament record marks an improved stretch for the Wolves, which entered the holiday break with a 1-7 mark.
"I think coming out of this tournament 2-2 was really good for us," said Vaughan, who scored a game-high 22 points.
"I think people expected us coming out 0-4, but we wanted to come out 3-1. It comes down to execution and we didn't execute as well in this last game."
Consecutive wins over East Aurora and Belvidere North in Red Division play earlier in the week brought Oswego East into the matchup with Peoria Central having won three of its last four games.
"Our confidence is definitely on the rise," Oswego East head coach Ron Murphy said. "Our energy has been better at each of the games we've played here. Our execution is what needs to be better at the end of the day if we want to step forward and beat good teams. That team won a state championship a year ago and that showed through at times when they executed and we didn't."
Neuqua Valley defeated Pleasure Ridge Park out of Louisville, Ky., in the championship game, 67-55, to improve to 14-0 on the season. Geneva defeated East Aurora, 57-54, for fifth place and Belvidere North won 48-46 over Aurora Central Catholic for seventh.
Oswego East (3-9) and Peoria Central (4-7) went point-for-point in the first half of play, with Vaughan opening the scoring with a pair of three-point baskets. Peoria Central senior Myles Boone (20 points) answered with two field goals and the game was tied at 6.
Junior Mike McAllister (14 points), who was recently added to the Wolves' starting lineup, sank a pair of threes well behind the arc for a 12-9 game late in the quarter and Oswego East held a 14-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Oswego East struggled to score in the second quarter and fell behind 19-16 with 2:20 to play in the first half. McAllister's basket was the Wolves' first field goal of the quarter after a pair of earlier free throws.
Peoria Central's Moses McConnell scored back-to-back baskets before Vaughan came up with a steal in the closing seconds and drained a three at the buzzer from just inside half court to stun the crowd and tie the score at 23 going into the locker room.
Although the third quarter opened with a 25-point tie after teams traded baskets, Peoria Central went on a nine-point run to lead 34-25 and spark a full timeout at the Oswego East bench with 4:45 to play in the third quarter.
"I think we got in the habit of trading baskets. They got going early, and defensively, we weren't as good," Murphy said. "They did some things at halftime and we weren't able to meet them with the same intensity. There was a four-minute stretch to start the second half where they went up eight or 10 and runs like that make the difference in a basketball game. We didn't do a good job of executing, and that's what it all boils down to."
Much of Peoria's run was due to the inside presence of Peoria's 6-foot-5, 310-pound senior center Josh Augusta, who scored 14 of his 15 points in the second half.
"We really expected (Augusta) to get the ball much earlier and we tried to zone and front. A couple of our big guys got into foul trouble and that didn't help, but those are opportunities for other guys to step up," Murphy said. "We just failed to execute."
Oswego East senior forward Kendall Dorsey tried to pick his team up with four late points, while Vaughan pulled up for a jump shot and followed up with fourth triple of the game to cut Peoria's lead, 40-37, with 1:58 to play in the third.
Murphy was pleased with the team's eight three-point baskets, but in the big picture, Oswego East shot 8-of-22 from the arc.
"There were definitely times where we settled for shots when we could have made better ones," Murphy said. "There were layups that we missed and charges that we did not take. That stuff kills you. It comes down to a close basketball game, you can't just focus on the last minutes; it's different things that happen at different junctures of the game. All those things add up during the course of the game."
Oswego East senior Scooter Smith went to the line twice and was good for four points to help the Wolves stay close, trailing 45-43 entering the fourth quarter.
Senior guard Tyler Ross was a big factor for the Wolves in the final quarter, scoring nine of his 11 game points in a six-minute stretch, starting with a three-pointer to cut the score to one, 49-48, with 6:34 to play.
But Oswego East could never tie or take the lead over Peoria.
Peoria went ahead 57-52 on senior Rob Davis' traditional three-point play with 4:09 to play. Dorsey scored six of Oswego East's next eight points for a 59-58 game with 2:57 to play.
"Kendall has done a real good job in tight situations, finding ways to score," Vaughan said of his teammate.
Peoria called a timeout with a three-point lead at the 2:14 mark, and Augusta was good for another inside basket and a 65-60 lead.
Oswego East still had a chance for the win as Vaughan was fouled on his layup and completed the three-point play with 33 seconds left to create a 67-64 game, but Peoria converted one free throw.
Vaughan once again answered with a layup for a 68-66 game with 17 seconds left, but the Wolves were forced to foul to stop the clock, and Peoria went 3-for-4 at the line.
Peoria led 70-68 when Lions senior Eriq Baird (16 points) went to the line and made one for a three-point lead and 8 seconds to play, and the Wolves were unable to get one more field goal to fall before the final horn.
"Even though it's a loss, there's a lot of positive things we can take away from this game, but there's still a lot of negatives we need to work on," Vaughan said.
Oswego East returns to the court Tuesday, traveling to Hinsdale Central at 7:30 p.m. for a non-conference game before visiting Plainfield Central on Jan. 11.
•Notes: Oswego East opened tournament play on Dec. 26 with a 96-59 loss to eventual tournament runner-up Pleasure Ridge Park. The Wolves trailed 51-31 at halftime, but came out in the third quarter to score 21 points.
Oswego East fell behind 76-52 going into the final quarter and was held to seven points in the last eight minutes. Vaughan led the Wolves with 19 points and Ross scored 12 while Smith pulled down seven rebounds.
Last Thursday, the Wolves rebounded with a 75-63 win over host East Aurora. Despite falling behind 19-8 in the opening quarter, Oswego East caught up and tied the game 27-27 at halftime. The Wolves took a four-point lead going into the fourth quarter, and outscored the Tomcats 26-20 in the closing period for the win.
Vaughan poured in 24 points with nine rebounds while Dorsey scored 13 points.
In the final pool play game last Friday, Oswego East defeated Belvidere North, 63-46. The Wolves had a 36-point effort in the first half and led 45-27 going into the fourth quarter to cruise to the win.
Oswego East had balanced scoring from Dorsey, Vaughan and Smith, who all had 12 points, while Ross scored 11. Smith and Dorsey had nine rebounds each.
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