Boys Basketball: Bolingbrook falls to Oswego
By Michael O’Brien mobrien@suntimes.com March 2, 2013 12:48AM
Oswego's Elliott McGaughy steals the ball from Bolingbrook's Prentiss Nixon. | Mike Mantucca ~ For Sun-Times Media
Updated: March 2, 2013 8:28PM
Ben Moore wasn’t about to go down without a fight on Friday in Batavia. The 6-foot-8 Bolingbrook senior did everything possible in the Class 4A regional final against Oswego, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Panthers’ talented guard tandem of Elliott McGaughy and Miles Simelton.
Moore scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He scored 13 in the third quarter, valiantly attempting to keep the Raiders in the game, but the Panthers pulled out a 72-59 win.
“We turned it over too much early and weren’t able to recover,” Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said. “When Ben cut their lead to seven in the fourth we just wanted to keep him going.”
The Raiders (20-8) turned the ball over 23 times in the game.
Sophomore Prentiss Nixon scored eight points and junior C.J. Redmond added seven, but the underclassmen seemed overwhelmed by Oswego’s talented back court.
Simelton finished with 25 points and McGaughy scored 17. Senior Darion Reddick chipped in 18 and sophomore Zach Ward came off the bench to score 10.
“They had four guys in double figures,” Brost said. That’s a really good team. You have to pick your poison with them. That’s why they had won 27 games.”
The Raiders dared Oswego to shoot the three and the Panthers complied, bombing away from the outside to finish 12-for-35 from beyond the arc.
“Everyone has figured out that we have two big-time scorers so they draw a lot of attention,” Oswego coach Kevin Schnable said. “(Reddick’s) confidence has just grown through the season. He’s had a lot of open shots and now he’s getting more aggressive.”
The Panthers (28-2) faced some heavy competition early in the season, but dominated a down Southwest Prairie for the last month.
“I’m not going to lie. I was a little concerned about that coming into the playoffs,” Schnable said. “We ran the table in the SPC, but our guys are gutsy. They are seniors and just fun to watch. Coaches have to worry about something.”
