Oswego East's Brooks Plays Much Bigger Than His Height

Oswego East senior Wesley Brooks is not one of the bigger players on the court. In fact, no one on either team for Saturday’s big rivalry game at Oswego was listed shorter than Brooks’ height of 5-foot-8.

But that did not stop the Wolves’ guard from coming up huge at the biggest times of the game. All Brooks did was score five points late in the third quarter and eight more points in the fourth to power East to a big come-from-behind 80-78 win. Not only did East avenge its December loss to the Panthers, but in improving to 6-4 in the Southwest Prairie Conference–and dropping Oswego to 7-3–the outcome now has them back in the conference race trailing only Plainfield South (7-2) and Oswego.

“Wes was a ton tonight,” East coach Jason Buckley said.

Panthers coach Kevin Schnable, meanwhile, is a big fan of Brooks, but he joked that he won’t miss the upperclassman next winter.

“He’s graduating. He’s a senior. Goodbye. Good luck,” Schnable said.

While the Wolves didn’t have anyone inside pulling down the types of rebounds that Panthers junior Ryan West had on Saturday (14 boards), East attacked the hosts with a trio of talented guards in Brooks and sophomores CJ Vaughan and Thomas Wilder. Wilder took over the ball-handling duties for much of the second quarter while Brooks sat in foul trouble, and he and Vaughan combined for 25 points on the night.

But it was Brooks who opened the fourth quarter with a pull-up jumper and followed that with a driving lay-up that resulted in a 64-63 lead and Brooks falling to the floor on the play.

“The kid’s got a high motor,” Schnable marveled after Brooks helped hand his team a second heartbreaking loss in two nights.

Brooks was not too concerned about his team’s seven-point deficit at the half. “We knew it would be an up-tempo game,” he said. “The difference is this time we finished every quarter off.”

That they did. Wilder sank a 35-foot 3-pointer to close the first quarter, and after Brooks’ driving lay-up with just 4 seconds left in the third quarter, Wilder stole the inbounds pass and converted a lay-up to send the Wolves into the final quarter down just 61-60. That’s when Brooks and Co. took over down the stretch to secure the impressive victory.

“This is real big,” Brooks said. “Now we have a chance (in the race)

The Best Play: On a night with many points and many big plays, both coaches felt Thomas Wilder’s steal of an inbounds pass and the ensuing lay-up at the third-quarter buzzer was critical. Oswego had just taken a 61-56 lead on a driving lay-up by Elliot McGaughy, when Wesley Brooks answered with a drive to the basket of his own, cutting the lead to 61-58 with 4 seconds left in the quarter. In a flash, Wilder swiped Oswego’s inbounds pass and went up for a basket at the horn. The visitors took plenty of momentum into the final quarter and came away with the “W.”

“I knew he had to get it in fast and I just jumped it,” Wilder said of the play.

Back-to-back Wolves’ Thrillers:  Oswego East’s thrilling 80-78 boys victory capped off a great night in Oswego’s full gym for the visiting school. The boys game was pushed back more than half an hour because the varsity girls game went into overtime before Oswego East prevailed, setting the stage for the boys to complete the sweep of their rivals on Saturday night.

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