The Osbourn Park Yellow Jackets came into Thursday night's game against Unity Reed having lost four in a row. The game was their third in as many days, and Osbourn Park came out strong by winning 60-51.
OP would jump out immediately to a 6-0 run kicked off by an RJ Jones three-pointer made possible by Tay Faison. Minutes later, sophomore Trey Terrell found junior big man Josh Okuadido for an easy layup to go up 10-4 and forced Unity Reed to call a timeout with 4:46 left in the opening quarter. Okuadido would grab an offensive rebound and try to put it back soon after and was fouled. He'd miss the free throw but the Yellow Jackets would continue to lead 12-8.
With two minutes to go, Jones would dish it to Okuadido for a poster-worthy dunk....but it was too good to be true as Jones was called for a charge on the play. OP would end the quarter up 20-16.
Fast forward to 2:46 left in the second quarter when Okuadido snags his tenth rebound and is fouled again on the putback. The OP junior would finish the first half with as double-double (10 points, 12 rebounds). A minute later, senior guard Logan Dwyer would hit a three-pointer off a Tay Faison assist to push the lead to 9 at 27-18. Unity Reed would trail 31-21 as halftime approached.
A Unity Reed layup in the third quarter would cut the lead to five at 33-28, forcing OP head coach Jeremy Coleman to call a timeout to refocus his squad. Coming out of the timeout, Trey Terrell would use a pretty pass to get Okuadido another easy bucket. Tay Faison would be fouled and hit both his free throws. The sophomore would finish the night with eight points- all by way of a flawless night at the charity stripe. He'd lead the team in assists with five, too.
Each time the Lions would look to creep back into the game, Osbourn Park shut the door on their rallies. Faison would hit another pair of free throws as would Terrell, giving OP a 43-31 lead with 1:18 to go in the third quarter.
Faison would get called for a foul on a three-point attempt by senior guard Sean Scott. He would go 1-3 from the line. As it was senior night for Unity Reed, Scott was earlier announced at having accepted a football scholarship to Glenville State University.
Osbourn Park would waste no time in the final quarter when Terrell stole an errant pass and convert it for a layup to put OP up 45-32. At the 7 minute mark, Tay Faison found Okuadido for an electrifying dunk that brought the entire Yellow Jacket bench to its feet.
Unity Reed would call another timeout at the 3:14 mark with Osbourn Park up 50-41. Terrell was not done on the night, finishing at the rim, drawing a foul and hitting the free throw which put his team up 10 points. The sophomore would finish tied for the most points on OP with 16 (shared by Okuadido). Trey would also add in 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, shooting 6-7 from the charity stripe.
A late Okuadido turnover would lead to a Sean Scott three-pointer, but OP would batten down the hatches and win by nine points. Okuadido finished the game with 16 points, 25 rebounds (8 offensive), 3 blocks with 2 steals.
Osbourn Park had 46 rebounds on the night and finished 18-23 (78%) from the free throw line as a team.
I asked Josh about his performance and what he thinks led to it.
"The team was really together in the locker room, listening to music to get ourselves hyped. It really made me want to push myself harder today. It felt great to stop the losing skid and push forward as we continue our season and towards our goal of the playoffs. Tomorrow versus Osbourn we need to go above and beyond what we did tonight."
The win puts Osbourn Park at 9-10, with a rival game at Osbourn Friday night. It is not only a road game, but Senior Night as well for the 6-12 Eagles. Tipoff is at 7:30 pm.
For more on OP basketball, keep it tuned here and follow them on Twitter @OPJackethoops.
Osbourn Park basketball would like to thank their sponsors for the 2021-22 season:
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