Boys Basketball: On Jordan Brooks’ late basket, Oswego edges Joliet Central in regional opener

OSWEGO – Jordan Brooks was touted as a potential breakout player for Oswego this season.

The 6-foot-1 sophomore guard indeed has a smooth offensive game. He seems to have a nose for the ball.

Brooks revealed a flair for the dramatic Saturday.

His basket with six seconds left capped a wild sequence of events as host Oswego rallied from five points down in the fourth quarter to beat Joliet Central, 53-51, in a Class 4A Joliet Central Regional quarterfinal to advance to face top-seeded Oswego East for a third time this season.

Joliet Central, holding for the last shot in a tie game, had a contested layup attempt by Anthony Nava roll off the rim. Oswego’s Deakon Tonielli grabbed the rebound and fired to Kyle Zeck, who found Brooks at the other end for the game-winning score.

“Jordan kind of willed us there at the end,” Oswego coach Chad Pohlmann said. “He got a bunch of offensive rebounds, got to the basket and the free-throw line. He’s had some really great moments this year. It’s just neat to see him in a big moment step up and make plays late to carry us to the win.”

Brooks had five points, all in the final 76 seconds of the game, and seven rebounds for Oswego, and seemed to be in the middle of several scrums for the ball late. His two free throws with 41.1 seconds left tied it at 51.

“At first, I wasn’t scoring that much, but once it came to the second half I knew what I had to do: Go out and rebound,” Brooks said. Once Kyle passed it ahead to me, I had to finish. Coach P lets me go out and do what I do. I just have to execute.”

Tonielli had 13 points and 15 rebounds, and Max Niesman scored 14 points, including 11 in the second half, for Oswego (9-18), which will face Oswego East at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Joliet Central. The Panthers dropped both regular-season meetings to the Wolves (30-1), although the second game a week ago was much closer.

“Always good to get redemption,” Tonielli said.

The Panthers nearly did not get that opportunity because of Nava’s heroics.

Joliet Central’s 5-foot-5 senior guard was huge for the Steelmen on Saturday, scoring a career-high 27 points. Fearless throughout going to the rim despite his diminutive stature, Nava’s two free throws with 1:54 left had the Steelmen ahead, 48-43.

“It’s my last game, I wanted to put on a show for my family and friends,” said Nava, who also had six rebounds. “I love the way we fought to the end. That’s all I wanted my team to do. As long as we did that, I can’t ask for anything more.”

The Steelmen (3-27) dropped their final six games in a rough season but hardly played like a team ready to call it a year.

Joliet Central led, 10-8, after a quarter on the strength of Nava’s six points and never trailed by more than five. Oswego led, 33-32, going to the fourth quarter, but Jayden Turner, who had 10 points and six rebounds, hit a 3-pointer with 4:41 left to cap a 6-0 run to put the Steelmen up, 40-35.

“We were trying to go against Oswego East, trying to take it to them,” Nava said. “It’s good. We had a rough year, but they’ll come back next year even harder.”

Oswego overcame it, as it has overcome adversity throughout the year.

The Panthers started the season 0-5, went 24 days without a game in late December and early January because of two COVID-19 pauses and dropped their last seven games going into the playoffs. They won Saturday despite shooting just 29.8% from the floor.

“We didn’t shoot it real well, and [Nava] controlled the game for 30 minutes. I told him he had a heart of a lion; he kept going at us,” Pohlmann said. “We obviously didn’t play very well. We’ve showed we can play a little better but we’ve been through some tough things.”

Tonielli, a 6-foot-6 Division I football prospect, towered over a Joliet Central team whose tallest starter is 6-2.

He took advantage of it with the 15 rebounds, the last setting up the game-winning score. Before that, Tonielli tipped in a Brooks’ missed free throw with 1:15 left, momentarily putting Oswego ahead, 49-48.

“They’re a very short team, so coach was emphasizing rebounding all week, said that’s how we were going to win the game,” Tonielli said. “I just went out there and did my job.”