Levine drains six 3-pointers as York beats Oswego East
What a difference a day makes.
Less than 24 hours after suffering its first West Suburban Silver loss, York responded in a big way Saturday.
With A.J. Levine and his six 3-pointers leading the way, the Dukes came from behind to defeat Oswego East 57-51 as part of the Batavia Night of Hoops.
Levine scored the first 14 points of the game for York (17-4), which was coming off a 49-25 defeat to Downers Grove North Friday, and finished with a game-high 24.
“Last night I was really cold,” Levine said. “Today I just thought I needed to come out firing, play with a little more swag. I came out and was hitting and just felt really good.
“We are a team that has a lot of grit. We weren’t happy with our performance last night; we talked after the game and said, that’s not the team we are. We really played hard tonight and it showed, to get a win against a really talented team.”
Trailing by as many as seven points in the third quarter, the Dukes went on a 14-3 spurt to pull in front 45-41 early in the fourth quarter and they would never relinquish the lead.
Kyle Waltz had five points during that stretch and had all 11 of his points in the second half. He added eight rebounds and four blocked shots.
“It was our defense and rebounding,” Waltz said. “That’s where it starts for us. We got stops and it helped that he (Jehvion Starwood) was out for a while. We kind of got back to what we do.
“The first half I was kind of passive. (In the second half) I started trying to get to the hoop more, not just settle for three-pointers. And then a three fell. It was more my mentality.”
Starwood, the line returning starter, hit a trio of 3-pointers in the third quarter for the Wolves (15-7) and finished with 14 points. But he picked up his fourth foul late in the third quarter with Oswego East up three and sat out a good portion of the final period.
Andrew Wiggins topped Oswego East with 15 points and Noah Mason totaled seven points and three blocks. The Wolves trailed 11-4 at the outset before a strong second quarter gave them a 30-26 advantage at half.
“That’s (York) a good team,” said Oswego East coach Ryan Velasquez, whose team came in on a three-game winning streak which included impressive victories over Bolingbrook and Romeoville. “I thought we played decent in the first half even with Levine getting off to a good start. We made some defensive adjustments, we just didn’t get the ball to the spots we needed to on offense. And it hurt when we were fouling.
“But give our kids credit, we battled.”
Brendan Molis and Braden Richardson each added nine points for York.
“I’m so proud of our kids,” said York coach Mike Dunn. “You see the true make-up of a team with how they respond after a tough loss. It’s a testament to this group and a testament to our senior leadership.
“That’s (Oswego East) a great program and their coach does a great job. That’s a fantastic win for us. A total team win.”