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Sports
Wolves find a way to win : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisWolves find a way to win
| Oswego East boys basketball team defeats Plainfield Central
| by Alex Gasick
| 1/17/2013
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Though it may not have come the way he wanted it to, Oswego East head boys' basketball coach Ron Murphy was content to leave Plainfield Central on Friday with a win.
The Wolves overcame a nine-point deficit in the second half to squeak out a 67-62 road win in the Southwest Prairie Conference matchup.
"We didn't necessarily do it the way we wanted to, but we found a way to get an ugly one on the road in a conference game and that's huge," Murphy said. "Hopefully it'll be a step in the right direction for us."
With the win, Oswego East (5-10) avoided a three-game losing streak and improved their record to 2-3 in SPC play, while Plainfield Central fell to 6-8 (1-4, SPC).
Plainfield Central came out firing in the first quarter as senior Mitch Young drained a quick three pointer and a pull up jump shot, while his classmate Duvaun Goodlow scored on a drive to the paint to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead with 6:12 left in the first quarter.
"The start wasn't great," Murphy said. "Any time you put yourself in a hole like that you expend a lot of energy to climb out of it."
The Wolves were able to counter with a 7-0 run of their own behind a three from junior Manny Contreras and baskets from seniors Scooter Smith and CJ Vaughan to tie the game with 4:03 left in the first quarter.
Both teams played pretty even the rest of the half but Plainfield Central's ability to pick up some extra offensive rebounds and loose balls helped them take a 34-31 lead into halftime.
"We knew coming in that they hit the offensive glass hard, but we didn't do a very good job of containing that in the first half," Murphy said. "It wasn't pretty."
The start of the second half was almost identical to the first half. Behind scores from senior Curtis Harrington, freshman Justin Windt and five straight points from Goodlow, Plainfield Central extended their lead to 43-34 with 3:34 left in the third quarter.
At that point Oswego East started to add pressure on defense with a trap first pass scheme that led to some turnovers and easy baskets. This allowed the Wolves to go on an 8-0 run which cut the Wildcats' lead to 43-42 with four seconds left in the third quarter. Sophomore Houston McCullum, senior Kendall Dorsey and Vaughan all scored on the run.
"After we took that initial punch we were able to grind it out and get back in it," Murphy said. "The big thing for us was we didn't panic when they got up. We played somewhat composed and that was important. We kept after it."
A basket at the buzzer by Harrington gave the Wildcats a 45-42 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Wolves came out in the fourth quarter with the most energy they had all game. They dominated the boards, continued to pressure on defense and were able to come up with every loose ball the Wildcats seemed to get in the first half. That, along with a balanced attack on offense allowed the Wolves to go on a 16-3 run and take a 58-48 lead with 2:33 remaining in the game. Senior Tyler Ross (10 points,) Vaughan (13 points), Smith (12 points), Dorsey (12 points) and McCullum (eight points) all contributed baskets during the run.
Smith and McCullum were crucial on the boards during the run for the Wolves.
"Rebounding against some of their bigger guys was a challenge, but it was all about finding a body and boxing out," McCullum said. "As the center I had to take it upon myself to get my body on the biggest guy and use my athleticism to pull those rebounds and it worked in the end."
However, Plainfield Central refused to give up. The Wildcats cut the Wolves' lead to 59-54 with 1:17 left behind baskets from Goodlow (13 Points), Harrington and junior Logan Velasquez.
After Vaughan missed the front end of a one-and-one, Plainfield Central junior Dwight Watkins made a three with 52 seconds left to cut the Wolves lead to 59-57.
Plainfield Central was then able to tie up Ross on the inbound and regained possession on a jump ball. Velasquez scored in the post to tie the game at 59 with 40 seconds left. The Wolves could've easily faltered at that point but they instead broke the Wildcats press with ease that led to a layup for Ross. After a stop on defense, Oswego East was able to seal the game at the free throw line.
"Our defense made the difference in the second half," Murphy said. We made them take some tougher shots and controlled the boards and that was the difference down the stretch. We've been playing better as of late so it's nice to see that show up in the win column."
Notes: Oswego East defeated Wheaton Academy 61-58 last Saturday in the Naperville North Shootout. The Wolves will host Plainfield South on Friday at 6:30 p.m. before visiting Minooka next Tuesday.
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