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Sports
Four in a row : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisFour in a row
| Defensive effort leads to Oswego East win over Plainfield South
| by Kristin Sharp
| 1/24/2013
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The Oswego East boys' basketball team turned to its defense to help ignite an offensive burst late in the third quarter of last Friday's home game against Plainfield South.
A faster game pace, combined with a strong full-court trap defense, helped Oswego East pull away early in the fourth quarter and claim a 54-40 win over the Cougars (5-14, 2-5).
The victory, combined with Tuesday's 50-48 win over Minooka, moves Oswego East to a four-game win streak with a 7-10 overall record and 4-3 mark in Southwest Prairie Conference play.
Holding a 33-31 lead after senior Scooter Smith's putback basket on Friday, Oswego East head coach Ron Murphy called his players to the sideline to draw up a new plan of attack with a full-court trap in place.
The result was a seven-point surge to end the quarter, which carried over into the start of the court quarter. Leading 40-33 to start the fourth, senior CJ Vaughan hit his third three-pointer of the game, and on the opposite end of the floor, sophomore Houston McCullom took a charge under the Cougars' basket as senior James Hill was called for his fourth foul.
"We kind of needed a jump start, which is unfortunate after all the energy we've played with the last week," Murphy said. "Houston took a huge charge and that is what really changed the game. We made a drive, got a good look at a three and knocked it down. We never looked back from there. They hung around, but we were able to take care of the basketball at the end. That was important to speed them up and that created some opportunities for us offensively."
Vaughan (19 points, two steals) continued to apply defensive pressure and created a steal, but that turnover did not result in any points for the Wolves. Hill found the basket for Plainfield South, but with 5:41 to play, senior Tyler Ross hit a three-pointer to give Oswego East its first double-digit lead of the game, 46-35.
"When we trap the ball, we forced turnovers. It definitely helped us out on the defensive end to convert on the offensive end," Smith said. "It definitely gave us quick buckets, and that's when we started to pull away. We trapped the ball, got the turnovers and we were able to convert."
Plainfield South called a pair of timeouts to try and slow Oswego East down, but Vaughan and junior Mike McAllister came up with a pair of steals, Vaughan had a putback, and the Wolves' led 49-38 with 3:02 to play.
"We didn't shoot the ball particularly well; we didn't execute particularly well offensively, which we need to do a better job of at this time of year, but I thought it gave us some easy buckets that we just weren't getting with our half-court stuff," Murphy said.
Smith scored one late basket for Oswego East, and three more points came at the foul line in the 14-point victory. In addition to his eight points, Smith also pulled down a team-best eight rebounds for the Wolves.
"Our rotation is constantly changing; I tell the guys all the time 'be ready to play,'" Murphy said. "We had some guys step up and create some things. Nick Craft was great for us defensively and gave us a huge start. Jordan Baker was great for us defensively and started the game for us tonight. It wasn't the way we drew it up, but we found a way to get it done and I think that's a product of us playing with more confidence."
Oswego East trailed 0-4 to start the game, but quickly rebounded as Vaughan nailed back-to-back three-pointers near the top of the key, and 40 seconds later, he added a third for a 9-5 edge for the Wolves.
Senior Kendall Dorsey's driving layup kept Oswego East out front on the scoreboard, but the offense seemed to stall late in the first quarter as the Wolves added just five more points - all at the foul line.
Plainfield South's Alonzo Garrett hit a three-pointer and Calvin Brooks followed up with a field goal to tie the game at 16 points in the opening minutes of the second quarter.
Murphy called a timeout with 4:49 to play, and Smith came up with a defensive rebound and putback at the opposite end. Plainfield South answered to keep the game tied at 18.
"(Smith) did a great job on the offensive glass, but particularly in the second half," Murphy said. "He got it in his head that he was going to go to the glass, and that's something we talked about and he did a good job. Those are big things for us."
Ross (13 points) and Dorsey (10 points) combined for a jumper and three-pointer, respectively, and free throws helped keep the Wolves ahead by five, 25-20, at halftime.
Plainfield South's Daylon Edwards scored a three-pointer early in the third quarter to tie the game at 27, and the Cougars later tied the game at 29 and 31 points to keep pace with the Wolves.
Following an Oswego East time out with 2:04 left in the third quarter, baskets by McAllister and McCullum gave the Wolves a slim 37-33 lead. Oswego East had the final possession of the quarter, and Ross nailed a triple with 1.6 seconds left to send his team into the final quarter with a 40-33 lead.
That led to Vaughan's three-pointer and McCullum's forced charge call on Plainfield South to turn the tide for the Wolves.
"Looking at the situation, I felt like we as a team, collectively, did better than them on the glass," Smith said. "I felt like even in case of a miss, we still had to stay on that line for the free throws. We had to pick it up, run the clock out so we can get out of here. Get the 'W'."
Oswego East boasts a 3-1 record in 2013, and has won six of its last nine games since Dec. 21. After the team's 0-7 start to the year, the last three weeks have been a confidence boost for the squad.
"I think with the beginning of the season, I never understood how much of a change, and how much adversity you go through with a new coach taking over the program - even though he was an assistant coach last year - it was still a big change," Ross said. "We've changed a lot of things from what we did last year. This year, coach has made us a more aggressive team. The beginning of the season, guys from last year are juniors who are seniors now, including myself, who didn't play too much last year. We were getting into the groove of things. Now, we have three in our belt and we're on a roll. Now we're starting to pick it up and starting to play as a team as coach wanted."
Notes: On Tuesday, Oswego East rolled out its fourth straight win, defeating Minooka 50-48 on the road. Vaughan had 13 points in the win while Smith, Dorsey and junior Manny Contreras had nine points each. McAllister had six assists while Smith had a team-best six rebounds.
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