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Sports
Letting leads slip away : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisLetting leads slip away
| Oswego boys drop two at Jack Tosh Holiday Classic
| by Laura M. Medina
| 12/31/2009
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Jumping out to early leads has proven to be a strength for the Oswego boys basketball team lately. Maintaining those advantages, however, appears to be a problem.
Despite owning a 14-point lead in their most recent game, the Panthers struggled late in a 62-53 defeat to Downers Grove South on Tuesday afternoon in a fifth-place semifinal game at the 36th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York.
It was a familiar scene for Oswego, which watched a 16-point advantage disappear in its 79-59 loss to unbeaten Lyons Twp., on Monday. The Panthers - who opened up the 16-team tournament with a 77-59 win against Chicago Harlan last Saturday - led 45-29 with five minutes remaining in the third, but the Lions went on a 30-3 run over the remainder of the quarter en route to the victory.
"That's a bad loss when you combine what happened to us (Monday) with what happened to us (Tuesday)," Oswego head coach Kevin Schnable said. "We just didn't bounce back."
The Panthers (8-3) had a chance on Wednesday to snap out of its two-game losing skid when they faced South Elgin in the seventh-place game. Results of that game were unavailable at press time.
Things started out in seventh-seeded Oswego's favor on Tuesday, with the squad building a 16-2 run during the first six minutes of the game. Senior forward Andrew Ziemnik led the way with seven points - including a three-pointer - and senior center Collin Seibert notched five of his own for the Panthers. Forward Bledi Dervishi had a field goal for the Mustangs (7-5).
Downers Grove South, though, steadily chipped away at that lead, getting offensive contributions from forward Zygimantas Riauka and Dervishi to make it 16-7. Oswego sophomore guard Ryan West then added a layup to close out the first quarter and give the Panthers an 18-7 lead.
It was a much tighter game in the second quarter, as the Mustangs edged the Panthers 8-6 through the first three minutes of the second. Dervishi (game-high 18 points, seven rebounds) drained three layups, while Seibert and senior point guard Brandon Collier combined for four free throws during that stretch to make it a 24-15 Oswego lead.
Collier quickly helped restore his team's double-digit lead, forcing a turnover and setting up West for a layup with 5:09 left.
But it didn't take long for Downers Grove South to erase its deficit, as the team reeled off nine straight points during the next two minutes. Guards John Dillon and Mark Bentley drained a jumper and a three-pointer, respectively, to open the burst, while forward Joey Biel closed it out with back-to-back layups to cut the score to 26-24.
Oswego, however, created a bit of breathing room at the end of the half, using an 8-4 run that was capped by freshman guard Elliot McGaughy's drive to the basket and his ensuing free throw to help the Panthers take a 34-28 lead into halftime.
Oswego kept Downers Grove South at bay with a slight 7-6 edge at the outset of the second half. Seibert sank a jumper, senior forward Joe Kwiatkowski had a layup and Ziemnik notched a field goal and one of his two shots from the stripe in that stretch to make it a 41-34 game.
The Mustangs, however, continued battling back, rattling off seven straight points, with guard Jamall Millison, Dillon and Bentley (11 points) providing the offense to knot the score at 41 with 1:25 left in the third.
Kwiatkowski set up Ziemnik's lay-in to make it 43-41 with 43 seconds to go in the quarter, but that would be the last time the Panthers would lead in this game.
Downers Grove South orchestrated an 11-5 run through the first five minutes of the fourth, with Millison (12 points) putting his team up for good with a three-pointer early in the quarter. He added a fadeaway jumper later in the period, while Bentley contributed four points for the Mustangs. Seibert and senior guard Kenny Jones notched layups over that span for the Panthers, who fell behind 52-48 with 2:49 left.
"Apparently, (holding a lead) is a problem because it happened two days in a row," Schnable said.
Kwiatkowski had a steal and scored in transition 44 seconds later to bring
Oswego within two, but it wouldn't get closer to the opposition. Downers Grove South closed out the game on a 10-3 run to cement the victory.
"We didn't establish our running game; we didn't get easy baskets in transition," Schnable said. "We didn't play to our strengths as far as getting the ball inside. We didn't attack the basket. It's two days in a row where offensive ball control and offensive shot selection just - well, you see the results."
Oswego was also unable to capitalize on its motion, dribble-drive offense, instead setting itself up on the outside, where it connected on just two of its 14 three-point attempts.
"Absolutely (need more penetration)," Schnable said. "We're just passing the ball around without a purpose and playing a lot of east-west type of stuff, and our basket is in front of us. We're just not in attack mode right now."
Seibert agreed with his coach's assessment.
"We're taking way too many three's," he said. "We're settling for outside jumpshots. We need to work the ball in, kick it back out, play our game and get the ball to Andrew (Ziemnik) more. You didn't really see that (Tuesday)."
In spite of what went wrong for the Panthers, they were at least able to rely on boosts from Ziemnik, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Seibert, who finished with 11 points. West contributed seven points, while Kwiatkowski had four points, three assists and six rebounds.
Meanwhile, Jones, who totaled 39 points in the first two tournament games, was limited to eight points on Tuesday.
Schnable was expecting a more positive outcome in Wednesday's game against South Elgin.
"I want to see some heart and some hustle and escape here 2-2," he said. "We just basically fell completely apart again. We're going to have to look at ourselves closely."
Notes: Ziemnik scored 17 points to lead the Panthers during Monday's loss against Lyons. Jones added 12 points while Kwiatkowski chipped in with eight points in Oswego's loss to the undefeated Lions.
Jones scored a career-high 27 points in the Panthers win against Harlan last Saturday. Ziemnik also had a stellar game with 22 points and 11 rebounds while Collier dished out seven assists to pace Oswego's offense.
Once play ends at the Tosh Holiday Classic, the Panthers are off until Jan. 9, when they face Southwest Prairie Conference foe Romeoville at noon in a game at the United Center.
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