Boarding school

Oswego's Andrew Galow glides to the basket for two points during the Panthers' game against crosstown rival Oswego East on Saturday night.
Donnell Collins / Special to The Beacon News

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OSWEGO -- Oswego's boys basketball team is known for the scoring of Jordan Mitchell and Andrew Galow.

But in compiling a 5-1 start to their season, the Panthers are serving notice that the combination of 6-foot-4-inch players Andrew Ziemnik and Joe Kwiatkowski inside needs to be reckoned with.

The duo combined to outrebound crosstown rival Oswego East in Southwest Prairie Conference action Saturday, helping lead the Panthers to a 66-61 win. It was Oswego's second win over the rival Wolves in eight days.

"We did the same thing last night to Plainfield Central, so hopefully we can keep it up," Oswego coach Kevin Schnable said. "It's something that we emphasize the importance of, keeping possessions alive. We make a big deal out of it, and the kids got it done."

Ziemnik recorded his sixth double-double in as many games, scoring 13 points to go with 15 rebounds. Kwiatkowski added nine points and 11 boards. Oswego East (2-4, 0-2 SCC) collected only 22 rebounds the entire game in dropping its fourth straight. Oswego had 44 rebounds.

"That's something we've fought against all year," Oswego East coach Jason Buckley said. "We were able to overcome it the first two games and get wins. We were getting outrebounded by about that margin. But we've got to be able to overcome that with how hard we play and how hard we box out."

Oswego (2-0 SPC) roared to a 35-21 lead at the half. Mitchell and Galow carried the load offensively. Mitchell scored 13 of his game-high 21 points in the half and Galow added 12 of his 16. While they were controlling the perimeter, Ziemnik collected 10 of his rebounds to keep possessions alive.

"Jordan and Galow both shot well," Ziemnik said. "I just crashed the boards, got some offensive rebounds, tried to put it back up and finish. But they made a lot of (outside) shots, so that helped out."

When Mitchell hit a 3-pointer to end the third quarter, giving Oswego a 53-35 lead, it appeared the rout was on. Oswego led by as many as 19 points in the third. But the Wolves had other ideas and staged a furious fourth-quarter comeback attempt.

It started at the defensive end, led by reserve guard Letrell Viser. He had five steals in the game, four of which came in the fourth. After a driving layup from Cameron Fairbairn, Viser's steal set up a Jay Harris lay-in and Viser stole another pass that he took to the hoop, cutting the Oswego lead to 58-51 with 2:06 left.

But Galow hit four of four foul shots in the final minute to keep the Wolves at bay, despite the Panthers turning the ball over nine times in the fourth period.

"I think we didn't have a sense of urgency," Buckley said. "If we don't have that, once we get down 20, it's too late. You need the perfect storm after that to make a comeback." Boys Basketball: Oswego 66, Oswego East 61