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HINSDALE – Despite losing a trio of main cogs from its sectional finalist team, Oswego East finds itself back in a familiar place at the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic - in the championship game.
The Wolves punched their ticket to the final for the second consecutive year after defeating DePaul College Prep 62-47 in a Wednesday semifinal.
Oswego East (13-2), which beat Lincoln-Way Central and Stevenson earlier in the tourney, will face Hinsdale Central on Thursday. The Wolves beat Hinsdale Central in November at the Hoops for Healing Tournament on their way to that tournament title.
“It is definitely special,” said Towson recruit Mekhi Lowery, who led the Wolves with 17 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. “The Christmas tournament is something we look forward to every year so making the championship is a great feeling. Now we have to finish it.”
The top-seeded Wolves jumped out to a 20-6 lead after the opening eight minutes, with Lowery throwing down a pair of dunks. They increased that margin to as many as 17 in the second quarter before taking a 35-22 advantage into intermission.
“That was the emphasis for this game, starting out with a punch,” Lowery said. “Our first game we started off slow so we emphasized starting off strong and playing together. Our key is the way we play together, we’ve got good team chemistry. And also the way we play defense, our defense creates offense a lot of times.”
The Rams (7-5) scored the first five points of the third quarter and would later get within five points on two occasions. But Oswego East, which lost to Homewood-Flossmoor in the 2021 championship, closed the period on a 9-0 run with seven points coming from Lowery.
Ryan Johnson, the other returning starter back from last season along with Lowery, scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half and he added five rebounds.
“That was a really nice win,” Johnson said. “DePaul is a strong team. We were able to get off to a great start and once we got that first run, we never looked back.
“Coming out tomorrow ready to play again will be the key to winning. We really want this championship. Coach wants it, everyone wants it.”
The Wolves have received immediate contributions from a pair of transfers, Bryce Shoto (Plainfield Central) and Jehvion Starwood (Yorkville Christian). Shoto hit a pair of 3-pointers to re-extend the lead in the third and finished with 12 points.
“Bryce and Jehvion came in and fit so well,” Johnson said. “They are good guys and from the moment they got here, we gelled instantly.”
Mason Blanco came off the bench to score eight points and Starwood and Tyler Jasek had five apiece.
“Obviously when you go into these things,” Oswego coach Ryan Velasquez said, “the goal is to play for a championship. We told the guys, we can do something we haven’t done before. We’ve never won this tournament, we got second last year. But tomorrow we are going to have to earn it.”
“We’ve also talked about playing defense and grinding it out every possession and we are starting to do that. It’s all about building and the process, learning from every single practice and learning from losses and even taking things from wins. Just stacking those blocks on top of each other. I love our guys, they compete.”