Oakville Boys Stay in First Place With Key Road Victory

Oakville brought a five-game winning streak to Parkway South on Friday evening for a contest with the 11-1 Patriots. The Tigers, at 7-5, were looking to not only extend their streak, but also to win a key conference game against a strong opponent as both teams look ahead to district competition.

The aggressive defense of South prevented Oakville from finding its attacking rhythm for most of the game. But the Tigers rallied in the second half behind the determination of senior guard Javier Duren, who had 11 points on the night, to make it six victories in a row as Oakville won, 41-36.

The Tigers are 3-0 and on top of the Suburban West Conference. Parkway South is 0-1.

An already pumped up Parkway South crowd roared as the game started with a 3-pointer by Patriots junior guard Ryan McCarthy. The fans for South have grown accustomed to winning and a chorus of supporters alternated between chants as the Patriots felt the home court spirit.

On the court, the energy was much different and following a quick start the game settled into a defensive struggle with both teams’ man-to-man coverage limiting the scoring as the first quarter ended 9-4.

The second quarter was much of the same as neither side had good looks at the basket and Oakville senior guard Gary Evans struggled with turnovers. South was largely unable to capitalize on the opportunities, however, and only a trio of inside baskets by senior center Tommy Holaway, who led all scorers with 16 points, enabled the Patriots to maintain their modest lead.

The first half ended with Oakville trailing, 15-10.

As the teams came out of the locker room to start the second half, Oakville coach Nick Traxler offered an abrupt “no” when asked if he could recall his team being held to 10 points in a half. Last season’s runner-up state champion, the Tigers have not seen low-scoring results often and they appeared fired-up to change things as the third quarter began.

Evans opened with a short-range jumper and South suddenly found itself getting good looks at the basket but unable to convert as Oakville tied the game at 15 early in the second half.

Oakville senior forward Danny Zehner hit a layup to give the Tigers the lead and Patriots junior Mark Waller struggled with missed shot as the tide began to turn in favor of the visitors.

Duren took the momentum and ran with it as the Yale-bound Tiger sunk a pair of free throws and hit a jumper to build the Oakville lead to 25-21 at the end of the third quarter.

Oakville’s basketball intelligence took over as the Tigers patiently worked the ball in the fourth quarter and the crowd was lulled into a quiet state until McCarthy woke them up with a 3-pointer midway through the final quarter.

With the game still tight, Duren’s focus and drive helped Oakville maintain the lead as he followed a steal with an elusive move toward the hoop and scored on a layup to make it 30-28.

After Duren picked up his fourth personal foul, the Patriots took advantage of his substitution and tied the game on a Holoway basket with two minutes remaining. Duren was replaced by Evans, who then made a big offensive board and dished to Zehner who hit a 3-pointer from the corner.

Protecting a four-point lead with a minute to play, Duren was sent to the foul line and iced the game for Oakville. Following the game Duren boiled his team’s win down to following their coach’s instruction.

“Coach brought us back to the board and gave us the same instructions at halftime that he gave us before the game started, but in the second half we actually listened to him and executed,” said Duren.

Parkway South coach Mitch Stevens attributed his team’s loss to an inability to capitalize on good looks at the basket throughout the game.

“In the first half we totally came to play and we had them smothered but we missed a lot of open looks in the second half, and some in the first half, and that was the difference as we had to play catch up in the final minute,” said Stevens.

Traxler explained that his team’s defensive determination was stronger in the second half and keyed the Tiger victory.

“Our guys locked in during the second half…we did not execute in the first half but we came out determined in the second to get the things done we had to get done for the win,” said Traxler.

Next for Oakville is a game at Belleville West on Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 5 p.m.