Is Oswego East’s Mekhi Lowery the best one-on-one defender in the state? His coach thinks so. ‘He’s that good.’

Oswego East’s Mekhi Lowery definitely has game. The senior guard brings it to the court, night in and night out.

Don’t think so?

Just ask his coach and teammates, who get to see the Towson recruit’s exploits up close and personal on a daily basis.

“Nothing jumps off the stat sheet like points, but he does it all,” Wolves coach Ryan Velasquez said. “That’s what we like about him.

“I still believe he’s the best one-on-one defender in the state of Illinois, and I’ll say that. He’s that good.”

It didn’t take long Tuesday night in Oswego East’s 66-32 rout of a pretty good Waubonsie Valley for the 6-foot-7 Lowery to make an impact.

The teams traded turnovers before the “point forward” went to work for the Wolves, stealing the ball up top in his team’s half-court zone and then driving to the basket for back-to-back dunks.

With Oswego East (23-5) leading 16-5 late in the quarter and the Warriors (14-12) holding for the final shot, Lowery stole the ball with five seconds remaining, bounded down the floor and beat the buzzer with another dunk.

Call them “throw-downs” like sixth man Mason Blanco or “kickdowns” like senior guard Ryan Johnson, they have become another Lowery trademark that includes blocks, assists, steals and rebounds.

Classmate Tyler Jasek, though, remembers when Lowery would forego a dunk for a sure thing layup.

“We were both sophomores, and I remember being on fast breaks with him and it was always layup, layup, layup,” Jasek said. “He was right there. We were all telling him to dunk and he wouldn’t.

“The next year? He came out and dunked everything. I was like ‘OK.’ It helps bring the energy, gets the team moving.”

Johnson will never forget meeting Lowery freshman year.

“I remember seeing him and thinking, ‘Whoa, his arms just go for days,’” Johnson said. “It’s awesome seeing his wingspan. Mekhi on defense is amazing.

“I love his defense and height. He steals the ball, handles pressure and has kickdown dunks.”

Johnson scored a team-high 13 points Tuesday. Lowery added a third dunk in the second quarter and finished with 12 points, four assists and four rebounds in limited action. Bryce Shoto also had 12 points.

“He definitely pushes me in practice, a lot of little things,” said Shoto, who transferred in the offseason from Plainfield North. “I can’t tell you a bad thing about Mekhi.”

The best thing?

“Our pregame meals at either Subway or Chick-fil-A,” Shoto said.

Junior guard Jehvion Starwood, who also transferred in this season, has known Lowery since sixth grade when they played each other in AAU.

“Mekhi seems to be able to steal the ball whenever he wants to,” Starwood said. “He’s positionless to me. He can play every single one and at a very high clip, too.”

Waubonsie coach Andrew Schweitzer knew the challenge awaiting his team, which can still take the DuPage Valley Conference title by closing out the regular season with wins over Neuqua Valley and Naperville North.

“We know all about Mekhi,” Schweitzer said. “He went to Fischer Middle School across the street from Waubonsie. He affects the game in so many different ways. He’s a helluva player.

“I believe in my team still. We didn’t show much (Tuesday night). They really took it to us. We just kind of ran into a little buzz saw.”

Velasquez, meanwhile, cherishes the time he has left coaching Lowery.

“He’s the ultimate teammate,” Velasquez said. “When coaches were recruiting him, I’d say, ‘He’s going to bring your locker room up. He’s just the ultimate teammate.’

“Mekhi is so unselfish. I love coaching him. Hopefully, he’s around for a lot more games here with a good playoff run.”