Reggie McWaine’s big shots help Oswego East rally past Yorkville in matchup of short-handed clubs

OSWEGO – Reggie McWaine recognizes the reality of Oswego East’s current situation.

The Wolves have been without junior guard and Division I prospect Mason Lockett for the last four weeks. Lockett, who missed his eighth game Friday with a foot injury, likely won’t be back this season.

But the season goes on. McWaine, one of nine Oswego East seniors, is moving forward.

“All these seniors, we’ve been playing together since sixth grade. The chemistry is still there,” McWaine said. “Yes, not having Mason does hurt a lot. But we know we all just have to step it up. You got to keep going.”

McWaine indeed stepped up Friday.

He stuck two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and made two free throws in the final minute. Oswego East rallied in the final five minutes to beat Yorkville 51-47 in a Southwest Prairie Conference matchup between short-handed teams both missing their leading scorers.

Oswego East (19-9, 11-4) led 27-19 at halftime, but Yorkville (13-15, 5-10) pulled even with an 8-0 run out of the break, and led 37-34 to the fourth quarter on a three-point play by freshman Braydon Porter.

The Foxes still led 42-38 midway through the fourth, until back-to-back 3-pointers by McWaine and Lukas Adolfs gave Oswego East the lead for good and the win on senior night. Oswego East turned it over a combined 12 times in the middle two quarters but went turnover-free in the fourth.

“I thought we played really good defense in the first half, but the second half and third quarter it got away from us,” Oswego East coach Ryan Velasquez said. “I told the guys you are a resilient group, game gets chaotic you have to slow it down, have some composure. Have to trust our skills and trust our teammates. I’m glad we were able to find a way down the stretch.”

McWaine scored 13 points, Adolfs nine and Andrew Pohlman had nine points and eight rebounds for Oswego East, which outrebounded Yorkville 28-15. Porter had 12 points and Christian Harrell 11 for Yorkville.

McWaine didn’t start for the Wolves on Senior Night, but he was huge late.

He hit a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter, and his third of the game pulled Oswego East within one. He split two free throws to provide the final margin.

“My team always looks for me to get open. I knew I had to get to the spots and make those shots and they’d keep finding me,” McWaine said. “I was on today and they found me and I made the shots and we got the win.”

Wins haven’t been easy to come by for the Wolves lately, now 4-4 without Lockett. He injured his foot the day before the Joliet Central game Jan. 17, aggravated it in the first half that night and didn’t play in the second half. He hasn’t played since, just practicing once.

“As far as I know, it will take a couple months to rest. Don’t see him coming back,” Velasquez said. “It’s a huge loss, almost 17 points a game, almost a double-double guy, it’s tough.”

McWaine has come through in Oswego East’s two closest wins without Lockett. He hit a buzzer-beater to beat Minooka in overtime.

“He’s a hard worker. When his shot is going we want to feed him the ball and his teammates know that,” Velasquez said. “He’s capable of doing that.”

Yorkville was missing junior guard Gabe Sanders, who came down with the flu that’s been running through school and is averaging close to 14 points per game

“If you were in any of our times it was a bunch of kids coughing, and we got a couple injuries,” Yorkville coach John Holakovsky said. “Battle of attrition.”

Indeed, on top of Sanders' sickness, freshman Joey Jakstys reaggravated a knee injury this week, and didn’t play, and senior Taelor Clements turned an ankle in the second half.

DJ Ingemunson’s 3-pointer gave Yorkville a 42-38 lead with 6:38 left, but the Foxes managed just one free throw and no made field goals over the next six minutes.

“We run a lot of our plays through Gabe, a lot of our plays are set up to get him the ball. It’s not an excuse. They [Oswego East] do the same thing for Lockett,” Holakovsky said. “They did a little bit better job than us. I thought we had a l lot of opportunities, got to take better care of the ball.”