Mason Lockett, Oswego East rally to win at Yorkville

YORKVILLE – Friday night was a new experience for most of the players of Oswego East and Yorkville.

While Mason Lockett and Andrew Pohlman returned this season for Oswego East, the rest of the Wolves are inexperienced. Meanwhile, the Foxes don’t have anyone this year who played significant minutes last winter.

Behind Lockett, the Wolves rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit to defeat the Foxes, 52-48, in Southwest Prairie Conference action.

Lockett scored 12 of his game-high 17 points in the second half.

“We came out and we knew we had to get right back in it,” Lockett said. “In the first half we let up too many cuts, too many drives. It was mainly our defense. We changed it up in the second half and it just turned into easy offense.”

Yorkville (5-3, 1-3) took a 32-22 lead at halftime thanks to a balanced attack from freshman Braydon Porter, junior Gabe Sanders and senior DJ Ingemunson, who combined for 23 of the team’s first half points.

Ingemunson’s shot in the lane with 3:12 left in the third quarter gave the Foxes a 40-31 lead. But it would be the final points of the night from those three players. The Foxes only mustered 16 points in the second half.

“I think we kind of lost ourselves a little when they were changing defenses,” Yorkville coach John Holakovsky said. “They were in many. They were trapping. They were doing 1-3-1, 2-3, 1-2-2, and four different defenses. They were making our guys have to see the floor a lot more and react to double teams and do stuff like that.”

Oswego East (5-3, 3-1) needed to make such a halftime adjustment to turn the game around.

“I think when they were playing man-to-man we pretty much got whatever we wanted in the first half,” Holakovsky said. “I think they did a good job of adjusting, switching up defenses and making us see the floor really well and make decisions.”

Lockett’s baseline drive to open the fourth quarter completed an 11-0 run by the Wolves that allowed them to pull ahead 41-40.

“He’s a great player, and I’ve known him since he was young and worked with him in morning lifts,” Pohlman said. “I knew he was going to be special one day and I can see it. You just have that look and he has it.”

The game featured a couple lead changes and a tie at 43-43 before Pohlman’s basket inside increased Oswego East’s lead to 51-46 with 1:51 left to play.

Pohlman would have a chance to add to the lead but missed two free throws with 58 seconds left.

Junior Frankie Pavlik’s layup got the Foxes to within 51-48 with 35.5 seconds remaining but Pohlman then swished the second of two free throws with 11.5 seconds left to finish the scoring.

“I was a little nervous but I knew my teammates would build me up and my coaches took care of me,” Pohlman said. “They gave me advice and I knew if I got another chance I would knock one down.”

Reggie McWaine had nine points, Michael Rembert scored eight and Torrin Ross added seven points for the Wolves.

“Mason (Lockett) and Andrew (Pohlman) bring a lot of leadership to the guys,” Wolves coach Ryan Velasquez said. “We’re still learning. It’s a long season, but we took a step in the right direction today. We got that taste out of our mouth from Tuesday (67-46 loss to Bolingbrook).”

Yorkville senior Taelor Clements scored all but two of his 11 points in the second half to keep the Foxes, who made just 5-of-16 free throws, in the game.