Nate Kubin didn’t care if his first in-game dunk came after the clock hit zero.

He was going for it.

Yorkville’s 6-foot-3 senior forward ripped away a steal on Oswego’s final possession. And then he threw down that breakaway dunk in front of a raucous home student section, who poured onto the court.

“I saw an open lane and I just went for it,” Kubin said. “Especially in front of the fans.”

Kubin did plenty of work under the rim, too, with a double-double.

Joey Jakstys had a stunning steal of an inbounds pass and go-ahead score in the final minute.

Yorkville scored the final six points to grind out a 46-43 win over visiting Oswego in Friday’s Southwest Prairie Conference game.

“It means the world to us,” Kubin said, “especially after the final buzzer went off and everybody stormed the court.”

Kubin had 14 points and 13 rebounds, sophomore Braydon Porter 13 points and six rebounds and another sophomore, Graham Martinson, eight points for Yorkville (5-2, 3-1), which was without leading scorer Gabe Sanders.

Sophomore Ethan Vahl scored 13 points and senior Brayden Borrowman 12 for Oswego (3-4, 1-3).

“So proud of our guys,” Yorkville coach John Holakovsky said. “Gabe, our leading scorer, has the flue. He texted me at 5 in the morning that he was throwing up all night, had a 100-degree fever. Our guys got it done.”

Porter split two free throws to close Yorkville within 43-42 with 25.7 seconds left. The 6-foot-8 sophomore Jakstys, guarding the inbounds underneath the basket, stole it and laid in the go-ahead score.

“What a play. That is obviously just pure reaction,” Holakovsky said. “We’re just trying to go for a trap in the corner and I’m yelling for our trap and the ball just fell out of the Oswego kid’s hands. Heck of a play by Joey. That’s why we have him on the ball. He’s 6-8, he’s long and he’s smart.”

Jakstys, who had six points, four rebounds and four steals, tried not to take too much credit for the game-changing play.

“He just lost the ball so I had to go up with it right away,” Jakstys said. “Just had to get it done there. It’s crazy.”

Oswego, which trailed by five at the half, and by as many as seven in the third quarter, had surged ahead early in the fourth.

Vahl’s driving score with 3:15 left gave Oswego a 41-40 lead.

But the Panthers’ high-scoring guard was hampered by foul trouble throughout, and was called for his fifth foul pushing off on a lob with 1:48 left and his team up 43-41.

“Great high school basketball game, really good environment, Friday night on the road, had an opportunity to get one and I feel we kind of let one slip away,” Oswego coach Nick Oraham said. “Got to finish.”

Vahl, Porter and Jakstys have emerged as three of the state’s top sophomore prospects in a conference loaded with young talent. And all three showed flashes of that potential in a rock fight of a game full of missed shots and turnovers, a combined 14 in the fourth quarter alone.

Kubin, a skinny, undersized post, was Yorkville’s constant throughout.

He had nearly a double-double by halftime with eight points and eight rebounds, helping the Foxes climb out of an early 10-point hole.

“He’s the heart and soul of our team,” Holakovsky said. “We have him guarding a 6-foot-11 kid, and I’m like he’ll be fine. He just battles and battles and battles.

“The effort and his brain are his two biggest qualities. Such a smart kid, heady on the rebounds, the way he finds areas that are open in the help defense for the catch and the layup, he’s so good at it. Skinny 6-foot-3 kid, he just competes his butt off.”

Kubin finds most of his scoring openings on offensive rebounds or creases in the defense near the rim. He also hit two big free throws with 7.4 seconds to make it a three-point game, and followed with his steal on Oswego’s last possession.

“It’s all hustle and heart,” Kubin said. “I just try to give it my all. I know they’re bigger than me but it doesn’t matter. I just try my best, try to read the ball off the rim, see what the defense is giving me.”

Oswego is just getting back to full speed with players returning off the Class 8A state runner-up football team.

Graham Schwab, one of those, had six points, six rebounds, five steals and took a huge charge late. All-State football player Mariano Velasco sparked Oswego in the fourth quarter with two baskets, assisted a third and had two steals.

“I thought Mariano played a really good game getting his basketball legs back,” Oraham said. “They bring those intangibles, Graham took that big charge.”