Boys basketball: Mekhi Lowery overcomes cramp to help Oswego East top Yorkville

OSWEGO — Why let a cramp put the brakes on a good time?

Oswego East senior guard Mekhi Lowery didn’t let a painful one in his left leg late in his team’s 56-52 Southwest Prairie Conference victory over Yorkville on Tuesday alter the outcome.

Sustaining the cramp after a dunk with 1:34 to go, Lowery was down for several minutes before getting help walking off the floor.

“I knew what it was,” a smiling Lowery said afterward. “It was nothing serious.”

He returned with 56 seconds left, got a key grab on a deflected shot with 11 seconds left, got fouled and hit 1 of 2 free throws.

That was all Oswego East needed to prevail, though senior guard Ryan Johnson set the final score with a free throw of his own in the final seven seconds.

Lowery led all scorers with 21 points and added 14 rebounds — six on the offensive end.

He had 11 points and five boards in the first half alone, which helped the Wolves improve to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference.

That’s all fine and good, but Lowery was more content to talk about his team’s accomplishment — beating a previously undefeated Yorkville team that fell to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the league.

“We know a lot of those guys, and it was a really intense game,” he said. “It was fun.” Intense doesn’t begin to cover it.

Oswego East used first half runs of 9-2 and 13-0 to stake itself to a 26-17 halftime lead.

But Yorkville stormed back in the third quarter with the 3-point shot.

Juniors Bryce Salek and Jory Boley each hit a pair of long-distance shots in the final 3 minutes of the period.

“It was good looks, patience and confidence and looking to get back in the game,” Boley said.

In fact, Salek hit his first from the right corner at the three-minute mark, and following a Lowery layup, he hit another from the top of the key at 1:56.

“We started running our sets better, and then after they broke down, we just played basketball,” Salek said of the third quarter difference.

That led to a fourth quarter that was neck-and-neck.

Yet another 3 from Salek, this time from the top of the key, gave Yorkville its first lead at 43-42 with 5:21 to go.

Later, Yorkville seized the lead back at 50-49 with a 3 from junior guard Dayvion Johnson.

But it just wasn’t enough as Oswego East junior guard Jehvion Starwood followed that up with a 3-pointer of his own at 1:47 and then Lowery’s dunk and cramp 13 seconds later.

“Offensively, I wasn’t really worried too much because it was going to come from me and my teammates,” Starwood said. “We’re all gifted scorers. But defensively, we needed to lock in and play as a team, and that’s what we did tonight.”

Starwood scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds, while senior guard Bryce Shoto added 10 points. Boley paced the Foxes with 19 points and four rebounds, while Salek had 13 points and senior forward LeBarron Lee had 10 points and seven boards.