Vincas Buzelis, unselfish Hinsdale Central run past Oswego East

OSWEGO – It’s not so much who scores for Hinsdale Central, but that it’s someone.

Following that vision of desired unselfish play, the Red Devils ran past host Oswego East 69-57 during Tuesday’s Hoop for Healing Tournament game.

[ Photos: Hinsdale Central vs. Oswego East ]

Senior Vincas Buzelis led the cause with 25 points, answering the gray out-themed student section heckles by coming up big in the scoring column.

“They were collapsing on every single drive so the kick-outs were there,” Buzelis said. ”We just had to rebound on our zone. We had to rebound a lot. Everyone had to crash, had to drive into the glass. We couldn’t leak out until we secured it. I thought we pushed really well. We knew our roles real well and played as a team.”

Hinsdale Central (2-0) faces Butler Prep at 3:30 p.m. at Oswego.

“We don’t care who scores, honestly,” Buzelis said. “In practice we all pass it. No one cares about points. It isn’t about points, it’s about the win. That’s pretty much it. We played very unselfish so that plays a big role.”

Senior Dillon Orozco scored 13 points, junior Eric Kozys had 10 points and senior Dillon Dell made three threes to finish with nine.

“It’s fun to be a part of a lot of unselfish basketball,” Dell said. “Moving the ball around like that. Every guy on our team can go out there and score the basketball at any time. If one guy isn’t shooting the best someone else is going to pick him up.”

Junior Michael Rembert’s three-pointer pulled Oswego East (1-1) to within 40-37 with 4:50 left in the third quarter. The Red Devils answered by scoring the next 10 points.

Three-pointers from Oroszco and Dell got the run going. Kozys then followed by a steal and a layup. Buzelis completed it with a pretty baseline jumper that made it 50-37 with 1:30 left in the third. That’s four players in the scoring column alone during the sequence.

“We had a little ups and downs but on that run we were all connecting,” Buzelis said. “We were all talking. When we made a mistake we only were encouraging and we communicated really well. That plays a big part on our team.”

Oswego East senior Lukas Adolfs beat the halftime buzzer with a three to cut Hinsdale Central’s lead to 34-28. Adolfs scored 12 points while senior Torrin Ross led the Wolves with 14.

The Wolves would cut their deficit to three points twice before the Red Devils countered with the game-breaking 10-0 run.

“Even though we didn’t win today, we are getting better,” Wolves coach Ryan Velasquez said. “This is a pretty good Hinsdale Central team over there with a Division I athlete in (Vincas) Buzelis who is quick. We had trouble. We learn from this and build and we get back at it tomorrow.”

Some adversity has already struck the Wolves as junior Mason Lockett remains sidelined with an injury to open the season.

“Guys just got to stay the course (without Mason),” Velasquez said. “It’s part of the build. And I thought we did some good things. I loved that we were competing even though we were down by double digits seconds to the end of the fourth quarter and we never gave up. You bring this  demeanor tomorrow and the next day and the next day and good things are going to happen to us. We’re learning a lot of things that people can do with Mason not out there. Mason brings a whole different element with his length, his rebounding, his shooting. He’s a very special player. But now our guys are trusting within each other and still learning to play within the system.”