Wyoming recruit Jehvion Starwood powers Oswego East’s tournament bounce back. Plus, boys basketball notes.

Happy holidays, indeed.

They were for senior guard Jehvion Starwood, who led Oswego East last week as area teams turned in strong performances in a number of holiday tournaments around the state.

The 6-foot-3 Starwood, a Wyoming recruit, paced the Wolves by scoring a tournament single-game record 37 points Saturday in a 79-68 win over Brother Rice in the third-place game of the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic.

It came on the heels of a 54-39 loss to eventual champ DePaul Prep the previous day in the semifinals.

“We kind of challenged our guys, wondering how we’d bounce back,” Oswego East coach Ryan Velasquez said. “I knew we’d compete, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

“I wanted to see what kind of resilience we had.”

Starwood averaged 18.8 points and 5.5 rebounds to earn all-tournament honors for the Wolves (12-4).

“He was just getting to the basket, too,” Velasquez said.

Mr. Smith goes to Pontiac: West Aurora coach Michael Fowler challenged 6-4 junior forward Terrence Smith, one of his top players, and Smith stepped up in a big way.

Smith averaged a tournament-best 10.3 rebounds for the Blackhawks, who went 3-1 and took fifth in the usually strong field at Pontiac.

Fowler thinks Smith, who had a 15-rebound game, is capable of averaging 10 or more rebounds for the season.

West Aurora opened the tournament with a 68-64 win over Peoria Manual, then dropped a 57-48 decision to eventual champion Curie in a game the Blackhawks led in the fourth quarter. They beat Joliet West 61-48 on Saturday and came back several hours later to beat Simeon 67-54.

“I think all four games we battled pretty hard,” Fowler said. “Curie is one of the top teams in the state in Class 4A and they made a few more plays down the stretch than we did, but I’m proud of the boys.

“I was a little worried going into the Simeon game, having to play twice in one day.”

Jordan Brooks averaged 15.5 points, Smith added 15.3 and CJ Savage had 15.0 for the tourney, with Smith and Savage being voted to the second five of the all-tournament team.

Indian Prairie roll: Teams from all three District 204 schools fared well.

Waubonsie Valley overwhelmed the field at the Hinkle Classic at Jacobs, winning its first three games by 38, 38 and 40 points, then dispatching Lake Zurich 49-37 for the title.

Neuqua Valley went 4-0 to take the title at Wheeling, while Metea Valley reeled off three straight wins before dropping the large school division title to Normal Community at the State Farm Classic in Bloomington-Normal.

“Defensively, we can overwhelm teams if we’re really on,” Waubonsie coach Andrew Schweitzer said of his team, which has won 13 straight. “Lake Zurich will win 20 games.”

Treshawn Blissett, Tyreek Coleman and Moses Wilson were all-tournament selections.

“Our conference is really good and we had an excellent showing,” Metea coach Isaiah Davis said, noting another DuPage Valley Conference member, DeKalb, won the title of the tourney it hosted.

“We’ve had a 10-game stretch featuring a really tough schedule, but we’re getting battle tested. Normal Community is a top five team in state with several D-I players.”

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Will Ashford, who averaged a team-high 20.8 points, was named all-tournament for Metea.

These Eagles dare: All-tournament selection Cameron Morel and Marshawn Cocroft, who could have been all-tourney according to coach Dan Beebe, powered Aurora Christian to a third-place finish in the small school division at the State Farm Classic.

The Eagles bounced back from a 64-33 loss to El Paso-Gridley in the semifinals before rallying from a 21-point halftime deficit to beat state-ranked Pecatonica in overtime for third.

Beebe likes the event because his team plays one or two games on a larger college court and gets to experience the travel, eating out and staying in a hotel that could also come with a long playoff run to state.

Stepping up: Illinois recruit Jason Jakstys averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds to make all-tournament for Yorkville in the 32-team Jack Tosh Tournament at York, where the Foxes (8-7) and Batavia (11-4) each went 2-2.

Jalen Bealer and Kenneth Cooley were all-tournament for East Aurora (3-12), which took fourth at the tourney it hosted.

IMSA edged Elgin 48-47 on Muna Onwuameze’s layup with six seconds left to give the Titans the program’s first win over a Class 4A school.