Sports
Boys Basketball: Oak Lawn Stumbles at Rich East
Rich East 62, Oak Lawn 44. The Rockets used a dominant second quarter to pull away from the Spartans.
The Hot Read: In a non-conference matchup, the Oak Lawn Spartans and the Rich East Rockets seemed evenly matched with both teams being from tough conferences and both boasting a winning percentage of around .500. Oak Lawn, however, had a poor second quarter Monday night and Rich East took advantage on senior night to notch a 62-44 victory.
Rich East led 15-12 after the first quarter and blew the game open when senior forward Nathian Cook threw down an alley-oop from junior guard Raheem Jackson to give the Rockets a 21-12 lead. Later in the quarter, junior forward Ronald Lawton had a fast-break dunk and Rich East led 31-14. All in all, the Rockets outscored Oak Lawn 16-7 in the second quarter, feeding off Oak Lawn turnovers, and led 31-19 at halftime.
The Rockets extended the lead to 39-21 and 47-28 before Oak Lawn made a comeback in the final quarter. However, the Spartans could not pull to within closer than 10.
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Patch’s MVP: Rich East forward Nathian Cook (17 points, 6 rebounds). The senior dominated on senior night. Cook slammed down two alley-oops en route to being the game-high scorer.
Key Stats: The Spartans gave up 11 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 17 times.
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Oak Lawn Leaders: Senior forward Colin Altenburg (10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals), senior forward Leon Reed (7 points, 9 rebounds), senior guard Callen Moore (9 points, 3 rebounds).
Rich East Leaders: In addition to Cook, senior center DeMario McMillan (10 points, 5 rebounds), junior guard Raheem Jackson (8 points 4 steals, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), senior guard Jacob Wilson (5 points, 3 assists).
Quotable I: Oak Lawn coach Scott Atkins on Rich East’s size: “We knew that the majority of their scoring comes from their three big guys, and they just got the better of us. I think our kids battled. Unfortunately, I don’t think we played with the poise that we’ve been playing with the last month.”
Quotable II: Rich East coach George Leonard on his senior class: “This is a special group of guys because they’ve all kind of been role players early on and throughout their careers, and they stuck with it and they kept getting better and better and better, and it’s really showing in their contributions.”
Team Records: Oak Lawn, 12-11. Rich East, 13-12.
What’s Next: Oak Lawn hosts Evergreen Park on Wednesday. Rich East plays at Rich South on Friday.
