A defensive stalwart, Oswego East’s Tyler Jasek surprises Joliet West. But not his teammates. ‘He can shoot it.’

Who knew?

Tyler Jasek’s Oswego East teammates, that’s who.

The 6-foot-6 senior forward/center was doing his usual good work Friday night on the defensive end. He set the tone early by drawing a charge in the opening minute.

The best was yet to come, however, as Jasek reached deep into his bag of tricks and pulled out some offensive maneuvers that hadn’t been on display much this season for the Wolves.

“Tyler is a shooter,” said classmate Ryan Johnson, a 6-7 guard. “He didn’t take many shots for us in the regular season, but he came out in this game and just shot the ball.

“Everything was going in. I’m not surprised he scored that much. He can really shoot it.”

Yes, he can.

Jasek and Johnson scored 16 points apiece to lead Oswego East to a 71-64 victory over conference rival Joliet West in the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional championship game.

It was the program’s first sectional title for the Wolves (30-5), who will play at 7 p.m. Monday against Moline (32-3) in the Normal Supersectional at Illinois State’s CEFCU Arena.

Jasek finished with four 3-pointers, including three on feeds from junior guard Jehvion Starwood. Johnson added three 3-pointers, with two on assists from Starwood.

“They’re my boys,” Starwood said of Jasek and Johnson. “We’ve been talking all week about Tyler stepping up.”

It was a necessity as Towson recruit Mekhi Lowery rode the bench for much of the second and third quarters in foul trouble for Oswego East.

Jasek, who committed last month to NCAA Division III Rhodes in Memphis, didn’t surprise himself.

“That was my first time scoring in double figures this season, but I’ve always had it,” he said. “If you watch my AAU film, I’ve got all that there. I know when I need to score, and I felt the team needed me to score.

“Jehvion always gives me confidence, too. He’s always looking for me and says, ‘Shoot it whenever you get it.’”

Jasek drained back-to-back 3-pointers to stake the Wolves to a 29-19 lead midway through the second quarter.

Joliet West (28-7) stormed back behind sophomore guard Jeremiah Fears, cutting the deficit to 29-28 at halftime.

Oswego East’s defense and foul trouble helped limit Michigan State recruit Jeremy Fears, a senior guard and Jeremiah’s older brother, to five points. He fouled out with 2:35 left.

Jeremiah Fears erupted for a game-high 27 points despite being saddled with four fouls in the final five minutes.

“They’re really good players and you do what you can to stop them,” Jasek said. “We got Jeremy a little, but you can’t stop both of them. One of them is going to get their points.”

Mason Blanco came off the bench to add 13 points for the Wolves, but the game was tight down to the wire because Oswego East struggled from the free-throw line.

The Wolves shot just 12 of 24 on free throws in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers were only 4 of 10.

“It’s crazy because we had one of our best practices this week working on free throws,” Jasek said.

Lowery, who was limited to nine points, had two of his three blocked shots in the fourth. He added seven rebounds and three assists to complement Starwood’s five assists.

“It was tough sitting out but I had to stay in it mentally,” Lowery said. “I knew I was going to get a chance to get back in the fourth quarter. It was tough, but we pulled through.”

Not that it was easy. According to Lowery, it never is.

“The free throws were tough,” he said. “I remember we went 0 for 6 in our overtime loss to Bolingbrook in this game last year. Fortunately, Tyler was ready to go, and with me being out, he had to step up on the scoring and be aggressive.

“He wasn’t hesitant to shoot and he helped us out a lot. We know his potential — he can knock them down.”