Boys Basketball: Patrick Robinson, hot-shooting Oswego East roll past Romeoville

OSWEGO – Patrick Robinson is a player who at the high school level does most of his damage at the rim with superior athleticism and brute strength.

But he’s not afraid to take his game outside.

Oswego East’s 6-foot-5 senior, a Missouri-St. Louis recruit, frequently works with his trainer on shooting with an eye at the next level where the inside-outside game is optimal.

“Getting ready for the college level,” Robinson said. “If you can shoot the ball, you can make some money.”

Robinson’s shot was money Friday.

He hit three of Oswego East’s seven first-half 3-pointers, fueling his 22-point night. The hot-shooting Wolves shot 67% in the first half to build a 15-point halftime lead and went on to a 71-53 win over visiting Romeoville in a matchup of the respective divisional leaders in the Southwest Prairie Conference.

“It was a really good win, they have a lot of really good athletes, they have a lot of good players on their team. They still gave us a good run,” said Robinson, who scored 13 of his 22 points in the first half and shot 7-for-10 for the game with four rebounds and two steals. “My team came out good on the defensive end, coach had a good scouting report. We played the right way.”

Mekhi Lowery added 12 points, four rebounds, three steals and three dunks and DeVon Oregon added nine points, all in the first half for Oswego East (16-1, 7-0 SPC), which began a busy stretch of five games in eight days that will include home matchups with Bolingbrook and Joliet West.

Troy Cicero Jr. scored 16 points, Meyoh Swansey 13 and Denonte Cunningham 12 for Romeoville (7-8, 4-1).

Robinson made just seven 3-pointers over Oswego East’s first 14 games, at just a 25% clip. But he had the range early, hitting two threes to fuel a 10-0 Wolves’ run for a 14-7 lead midway through the first quarter.

Robinson in the later stages punished smaller Romeoville defenders at the rim, but it started outside.

“Tremendously it helps a lot being multi-dimensional,” Robinson said. “If they think I’m about to go to the basket then I just step it out and shoot the three then they have to guard me both ways so it makes it easier to go to the basket. If I was open, I was going to let it fly.”

Backup guard Joey Patti got in the act late in the first quarter, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers for a 22-15 lead as part of a 9-0 run after Romeoville had closed within one. Oswego East shot 7-for-12 from beyond the arc in the first half.

“We can’t fall in love with the 3. I know that’s part of the game, everybody has their green light shot and everybody’s shot is not the same,” Oswego East coach Ryan Velasquez said. “I’m happy with our shot selection tonight.”

Romeoville scored the first five points of the game, a Swansey 3-pointer starting things, and was down just 25-20 midway through the second quarter.

The Spartans forced 17 turnovers with their pressure, but Oswego East capitalized on Romeoville’s over-aggressiveness.

“Oswego East is a great ballclub, well coached, and they have some kids who can knock down shots,” Romeoville coach Marc Howard said. “If we took a gamble, they made us pay.”

Howard’s Spartans, conversely, shot only 7 for 30 from the field over the middle two quarters, and missed multiple layups in the latter stages of the first half. It allowed Oswego East’s lead to grow to 41-26 at halftime and it never dipped below double figures in the second half.

“We had a lot of energy and gave good effort but late in the second quarter we missed some layups that kind of spun the game,” Howard said. “We missed a lot of layups and those misses ended up ballooning the lead to 15. Playing uphill from that point on is hard against a good team like that.”

Ryan Johnson added eight points, hitting two 3-pointers for Oswego East, which has bounced back from its first loss of the season after a 14-0 start with double-digit wins over Joliet Central and Romeoville.

“I feel since last week we really regrouped,” Velasquez said. “Practice and these last two games, we’re getting better. That’s the thing we’re stressing, is get better every time you step out on the court.”