Mason Lockett’s moments came in blink of an eye flashes throughout No. 16 Oswego East’s 68-61 win against No. 11 Waukegan on Saturday in the Chicagoland Coaches United Invitational at Hope Academy.
Lockett’s passing ability is a level higher than high school basketball, and he executes his assists with startling quickness and accuracy.
The 6-4 DePaul recruit found junior Jacsen Tucker on the run for a basket to put the Wolves ahead 59-56 with 3:41 to play. Then he closed out the win for Oswego East (8-2) with an assist to D’Shaun Bolden, a driving layup for a bucket of his own and a slam dunk just before the buzzer to finish with 14 points and seven assists.
“[Lockett] does it every game,” Bolden said. “He’s a big leader for us and throughout this whole journey he’s been showing me the way.”
Bolden led Oswego East with 23 points and 13 rebounds. The 6-5 junior grabbed nine rebounds in the first quarter as the Wolves jumped out to a 25-9 lead. That rebounding dominance wasn’t an accident.
“I watched about three hours of film on Waukegan, and I knew that sometimes they didn’t box out,” Bolden said. “I knew if we could outrebound them and play defense we could win the game.”
Oswego East’s lead fell apart in the second quarter after a flurry of turnovers led to a 12-0 Waukegan run.
“We thought we had a smooth one and then [Waukegan’s] pressure really got to us, and the game got close,” Lockett said. “In the last five minutes I knew I had to flip the switch. We had to win this.”
A three-pointer by senior Ryan Brown put the Bulldogs ahead 31-30 at the end of the first half. The lead changed hands until Lockett’s flurry at the end.
“The pressure got to us in the second quarter, and we gave up a lot of points,” Oswego East coach Ryan Velasquez said. “I’m not that disappointed with our defensive effort, but we need to value the ball a lot more. We showed a lot of grit in the second half to pull away in the second half. That’s a good win for us for sure.”
Jaali Rico Love, who started high school at Manley, returned to the West Side and led Waukegan (7-3) with 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Senior guard Trey’Veon Roberts added 17 points for the Bulldogs and Brown scored 12.
Waukegan is still playing without leading scorer Simereon Carter, who was injured last weekend against Warren. Bulldogs coach Ron Ashlaw expects the 6-4 senior to miss the upcoming Elgin Holiday Tournament.