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Dshaun Bolden, Oswego East turn it around against Downers Grove North in second half, move to regional final · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Deshaun Bolden Oswego East turning around against downers Grove North
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  Speaker 1: and second half moved a regional final. Written by Joshua
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  Speaker 1: Wells Arsen, this article is being read by an automated
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  Speaker 1: voice brought to you by Everlett. Deshaun Bolden was the
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  Speaker 1: lone non senior in Osuego East starting lineup Wednesday, so
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  Speaker 1: in theory, the junior was not playing with the desperation
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  Speaker 1: of potentially his last high school game, but he felt
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  Speaker 1: the urgency. To Bolden, it only became heightened as the
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  Speaker 1: Wolves went into halftime chasing four points against downers Grove North,
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  Speaker 1: he had scored just one basket. We got a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of seniors on our team. I knew I had to
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  Speaker 1: pick it up. I can't let these guys down. These
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  Speaker 1: guys are my best friends, Bolden said. I wasn't playing
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  Speaker 1: hard enough. I had to do better. Bolden indeed played
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  Speaker 1: with a renewed purpose after halftime. He scored ten of
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  Speaker 1: his game high sixteen points in the third quarter. He
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  Speaker 1: later had the basket to give the Wolves the lead
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  Speaker 1: for good three minutes into the fourth. Bolden's energy and
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  Speaker 1: Oswego East stepped up pressure defense turned the tide in
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  Speaker 1: the fifty to forty one win over downers Grove North
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  Speaker 1: in the Class four A Nuquoa Valley Regional semifinal. Bolden
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  Speaker 1: also had eight rebounds in De Paul recruit Mason Lockett
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  Speaker 1: twelve points for Oswego East twenty eleven, which advances to
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  Speaker 1: play Nuqua Valley in Friday's regional final. Connor Crowley led
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  Speaker 1: downers Grove North eighteen fourteen with fifteen points and Owen
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  Speaker 1: O'Reilly had eight. Downers Grove North hit five of its
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  Speaker 1: first six to three point attempts to lead by as
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  Speaker 1: many as eight seventeen to nine in the first half.
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  Speaker 1: Lockett's running thirty footer as time expired sent Oswego East
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  Speaker 1: into halftime down twenty one seventeen, and then Bolden scored
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  Speaker 1: three baskets in the first three minutes of the third quarter.
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  Speaker 1: Six foot four junior later added a steal and dunk,
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  Speaker 1: and he was active defensively and around the basket, and
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  Speaker 1: attribute Oswego East coach Ryan Velaskaz has grown used to seeing.
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  Speaker 1: I liked the energy he brought today. Velaska said, high
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  Speaker 1: energy goes up and gets the ball real bouncy. He
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  Speaker 1: plays with a high motor. That's what I like about him.
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  Speaker 1: Oswego East still trailed thirty five thirty three after three
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  Speaker 1: Crowley hitting three free throws with point five seconds left.
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  Speaker 1: After three subsequent lead changes, Bolden gave the Wolves the
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  Speaker 1: lead for good forty thirty eight with five nineteen left
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  Speaker 1: on a spectacular spin and score in the lane. It
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  Speaker 1: started a decisive eight to zero run. I practiced it
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  Speaker 1: thousands of times since I was young, Bolden said. Instincts
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  Speaker 1: just naturally did it. We weren't losing this game. The
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  Speaker 1: Wolves found themselves chasing the lead for almost the entire
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  Speaker 1: first three quarters and in the Trojan methodical game for
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  Speaker 1: a half. But Oswego East pressure defense picked up after halftime,
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  Speaker 1: forcing eleven turnovers in the second half after just two
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  Speaker 1: in the first, and allowed just six points in the
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  Speaker 1: fourth quarter. That is not really our style, to be honest,
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  Speaker 1: Velaska has said. We trusted each other. We're able to
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  Speaker 1: get together some stops. Senior guard Zane Manelodi played a
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  Speaker 1: huge part in that pressure. He scored all seven of
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  Speaker 1: his points in the second half and had four steals.
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  Speaker 1: Manelodi's steal and score with five seconds left in the
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  Speaker 1: third quarter gave Oswego East its first lead. We knew
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  Speaker 1: they might hold the ball, so we had to turn
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  Speaker 1: it up defensively, Manilodi said, knowing that, I felt like
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  Speaker 1: I had to be the spark. I'm a senior, this
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  Speaker 1: could be my last game. I was going to leave
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  Speaker 1: it all out there defensively. Downers Grove North was hurt
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  Speaker 1: twofold when six foot seven junior Colin Doyle took a
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  Speaker 1: hit to the shoulder in the first quarter and didn't return. Doyle,
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  Speaker 1: a Duke baseball commit, is the Trophi's tallest starter. He
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  Speaker 1: also handles the ball quite a bit, which downers Grove
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  Speaker 1: North struggled with as the game war on pressure. Hurt
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  Speaker 1: obviously didn't take care of the ball. We do use
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  Speaker 1: Colin for a pressure release. Trojans coach Jim Thomas said,
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  Speaker 1: they pressured us and it makes it a little more
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  Speaker 1: difficult to get in and out of the layers of
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  Speaker 1: our offense. It also hurt defending guys like Bolden Lockett
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  Speaker 1: and six foot four Jackson Tucker at the rim. Again,
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  Speaker 1: Colin is our biggest guy. When we lost him, we
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  Speaker 1: had to bump down inside. Thomas said, they're very physical
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  Speaker 1: and athletic at the rim. It had us in Plan B,
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  Speaker 1: and our plan B isn't good enough to beat them
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  Speaker 1: right now. Oswego East, with the win, reached twenty wins
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  Speaker 1: for the eighth straight season, not counting the COVID shortened season.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't easy against the Downers Grove North team with
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  Speaker 1: three straight regional titles coming in. I told our guys
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  Speaker 1: winning regional games, as hard Belaska has said, we knew
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  Speaker 1: it would be a dogfight. So will Friday against the
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  Speaker 1: thirty one Equa Valley team on its home court. That's
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  Speaker 1: one twenty eight straight. The Wildcat's last loss to Oswego
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  Speaker 1: East seventy four to sixty five the day after Thanksgiving.
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  Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to it a lot. Manlodi said, good opponent.
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  Speaker 1: We like the challenge. It's nothing we haven't seen before.