Boys basketball: Oswego East turns it around against Downers Grove North in second half

Dshaun Bolden was the lone non-senior in Oswego East’s starting lineup Wednesday, so in theory the junior was not playing with the desperation of potentially his last high school game.

But he felt the urgency.

To Bolden, it only became heightened as the Wolves went into halftime chasing four points against Downers Grove North. He had scored just one basket.

“We got a bunch of seniors on our team, I knew I had to pick it up. I can’t let these guys down. These guys are my best friends,” Bolden said. “I wasn’t playing hard enough. I had to do better.”

Bolden indeed played with a renewed purpose after halftime.

He scored 10 of his game-high 16 points in the third quarter. He later had the basket to give the Wolves the lead for good three minutes into the fourth.

Bolden’s energy, and Oswego East’s stepped-up pressure defense turned the tide in the 50-41 win over Downers Grove North in the Class 4A Neuqua Valley regional semifinal.

Bolden also had eight rebounds and DePaul recruit Mason Lockett 12 points for Oswego East (20-11), which advances to play Neuqua Valley in Friday’s regional final. Connor Crowley led Downers Grove North (18-14) with 15 points and Owen O’Reilly had eight.

Downers Grove North hit five of its first six 3-point attempts to lead by as many as eight, 17-9, in the first half.

Lockett’s running 30-footer as time expired sent Oswego East into halftime down 21-17.

And then Bolden scored three baskets in the first three minutes of the third quarter. The 6-foot-4 junior later added a steal and dunk. And he was active defensively and around the basket, an attribute Oswego East coach Ryan Velasquez has grown used to seeing.

“I liked the energy he brought today,” Velasquez said. “High energy, goes up and gets the ball, real bouncy. He plays with a high motor. That’s what I like about him.”

Oswego East still trailed 35-33 after three, Crowley hitting three free throws with 0.5 seconds left.

After three subsequent lead changes, Bolden gave the Wolves the lead for good, 40-38 with 5:19 left, on a spectacular spin and score in the lane. It started a decisive 8-0 run.

“I practice it thousands of times since I was young,” Bolden said. “Instincts, just naturally did it. We weren’t losing this game.”

The Wolves found themselves chasing the lead for almost the entire first three quarters, and in the Trojans’ methodical game for a half.

But Oswego East’s pressure defense picked up after halftime, forcing 11 turnovers in the second half after just two in the first, and allowed just six points in the fourth quarter.

“That is not really our style, to be honest,” Velasquez said. “We trusted each other, were able to get together some stops.”

Senior guard Zayn Manalodi played a huge part in that pressure.

He scored all seven of his points in the second half, and had four steals. Manalodi’s steal and score with five seconds left in the third quarter gave Oswego East its first lead.

“We knew they might hold the ball so we had to turn it up defensively,” Manalodi said. “Knowing that I felt like I had to be the spark. I’m a senior, this could be my last game, I was going to leave it all out there defensively.”

Downers Grove North was hurt two-fold when 6-foot-7 junior Colin Doyle took a hit to the shoulder in the first quarter and didn’t return.

Doyle, a Duke baseball commit, is the Trojans’ tallest starter. He also handles the ball quite a bit, which Downers Grove North struggled with as the game wore on.

“Pressure hurt, obviously didn’t take care of the ball. We do use Colin for a pressure release,” Trojans coach Jim Thomas said. “They pressured us and it makes it a little more difficult to get in and out of the layers of our offense.”

It also hurt defending guys like Bolden, Lockett and 6-foot-4 Jacsen Tucker at the rim.

“Again, Colin is our biggest guy. When we lost him we had to bump down inside,” Thomas said. “They’re very physical and athletic at the rim. It had us in Plan B, and our Plan B isn’t good enough to beat them right now.”

Oswego East with the win reached 20 wins for the eighth straight season, not counting the COVID shortened season. It wasn’t easy against a Downers Grove North team with three straight regional titles coming in.

“I told our guys winning regional games is hard,” Velasquez said. “We knew it would be a dogfight.”

So will Friday against a 30-1 Neuqua Valley team on its home court that’s won 28 straight.

The Wildcats’ last loss? To Oswego East, 74-65, the day after Thanksgiving.

“I’m looking forward to it a lot,” Manalodi said. “Good opponent. We like the challenge. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before.”