Boys Basketball: Oswego has backup plan vs. Plainfield East
By Paul Johnson For Sun-Times Media December 8, 2012 12:54AM
Updated: January 10, 2013 6:33AM
After Oswego’s Miles Simelton scored 12 of the Panthers’ first 20 points in the showdown with defending Southwest Prairie champion Plainfield East on Friday night, the Bengals defense started to key on him.
Oswego needed somebody else to step up and provide a spark.
Reserve guard Danny Mangers filled the role admirably.
With the Panthers trailing by four at 26-22, Mangers came in and fueled an 18-4 run to end the half and propel Oswego to a 72-54 win.
Mangers scored 12 of the 18 points in the run and had 15 points on the night — all in the first half.
“They always collapse on (Simelton), so Miles always finds me,” Mangers said. “My guy always sags off and that leaves me open, so that works out real well. It’s a game of spurts and we got a big one, and that really helped.”
Mangers scored four points on one possession to tie the game at 26 and start the run. He drove in for a layup and was fouled. He missed the free throw but put in the rebound.
Mangers also drilled a pair of three-pointers from the corner and hit two free throws and Jack Kwiatkowski sank a three-pointer as the Panthers (5-1, 2-0) took control of the game.
“I think we finally made a commitment that he’s a better player coming off the bench,” Oswego coach Kevin Schnable said of Mangers. “He means more to our team (in that role). Tonight, he played very relaxed and therefore very confident.”
Despite being hounded all night, Simelton managed to score a game-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. Most of the threes were from way beyond the arc, which left Plainfield East coach Branden Adkins shaking his head.
“I underestimated him,” Adkins said. “Going in, knowing that we were going to play zone, I thought they didn’t really have anybody that was going to shoot from 30 feet out that can knock down threes. Well, he made me look silly because he did. He’s a heck of a basketball player.”
After hanging around early, Plainfield East (2-4, 1-1) could not cut the lead to single digits in the second half. Aaron Jordan led the Bengals with 15 points and Nick Novak added 11 off the bench.
