The Wolves took care of business on Tuesday night, leaving the court with a 60 – 38 win over the Oswego Panthers.

East got out to a slow start, finishing the 1st quarter with a mere nine points. Senior basketball player, Andrew Wiggins, attributed the team’s early troubles to a lack of focus.

“The game was very sluggish in the beginning and we were playing down to their level,” Wiggins said.

Varsity Head Coach, Ryan Velasquez, also noticed the team’s poor start and understood that changes needed to be made if they wanted to win.

“Going forward we’d like to, you know, value possessions better and be more connected on the defensive end,” Velasquez said.

After finishing the first quarter with a 1 point deficit, Coach Velasquez was able to lead the Wolves on an 18 to 5 run in the second thanks to a few in-game adjustments.

“We’re a young team that’s still trying to figure out who we are. We always talk about getting one percent better every day. So whether that’s in the classroom looking at film or on the court, we want to make sure that we correct the things that we’re not doing,” Velasquez said. 

Following their second quarter run, the Wolves never looked back, ending the game with a 22 point lead over Panthers. East received scoring contributions from 10 different players on Tuesday night, with seniors Jehvion Starwood and Andrew Wiggins contributing 13 and 11 points respectively. 

Over the years, the annual crosstown matchup between the Wolves and the Panthers has proved to be very meaningful to both the fans and the players. 

“It means a lot to the [players] because they grew up with a lot of these guys, you know, maybe even played youth sports together. And it’s right down the street so it’s always a good atmosphere,” Velasquez said. 

Adding on to this, many players, including Andrew Wiggins, have had this game circled on their calendar for months. 

“The rivalry is definitely important since it’s for bragging rights among friends and around town, but they’re also conference opponents so we need to keep our foot on their throats,” Wiggins said.

East’s Varsity Basketball has certainly dominated the crosstown matchup over the past few years. The team’s success over such a close rival has given students a sense of pride in their school.

 Senior at East, Justin Lange, shared his thoughts on the crosstown rivalry and its importance to the school.  

“I look forward to watching the team beat Oswego every season. They usually win the football game so it’s nice to have something to brag about. This team makes me proud to be a student at East,” Lange said.

Following Tuesday’s win over Oswego, the Wolves head into Friday’s game against Plainfield South with a very respectable 7-3 record. Although this lands the Wolves in 3rd place in the conference, Coach Velasquez has higher aspirations for the team moving forward. 

“We want to get 1% better every single game. We’re 10 games in right now and we have 20 more left to continue to improve. Hopefully, by the end of the year we will be playing our best basketball,” Velasquez said.

Johnathan Crouch, Benjamin Heuberger, and Jack Polkow are staff writers for Oswego East’s online news magazine The Howl.