Chargers on the move

Aurora Central's second straight Suburban Catholic Conference title, which the Chargers clinched with Saturday night's 71-58 win over Marian, might be even more impressive than their first.

One reason is the strength of the league, which has shown itself on consecutive weekends with St. Francis' win over Western Sun Conference leader Glenbard South this past Friday. The week before that Marmion won at East Aurora.

Aurora Central has managed to make it through all 11 of its SCC games without a loss. Last year the Chargers shared the title with Driscoll with 12-2 records.

"I think conference is really tough," Aurora Central coach Nate Drye said. "When you see some of the nonconference wins the guys have gotten, I just think all the teams are really good. It's a credit to the whole conference. Which means for us to win the conference with some of those wins is a testament to the kids and the hard work they have put in."

Aurora Central (19-2 overall) also has done this without Mark Adams, the Chargers' sensational swingman who graduated from last year's team, one that made school history by winning ACC's first SCC title in any sport. As they have all year, seniors Anthony Kelley (31 points), Mike Adams (10 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists) and Nick Czaja (15 points) led the way in Saturday's win.

The Chargers take a break from SCC play tonight when they play at Aurora Christian, and also Saturday with a rare nonconference visit from a Public League school, Manley.

Ironically, Drye put Manley on Aurora Central's schedule to prepare for the postseason. But the Chargers have been sent west this year and won't see any city schools like they did with last year's season-ending loss to Marshall.

"We had to go through the Riverside Brookfield sectional (last year) so we tried to schedule more Public League teams," said Drye, whose team also played Hyde Park this year, one of their two losses.

"It will still be fun through because we don't see that style of play too much. The kids are really looking forward to it. I'm glad it is on the schedule."

The Chargers figure to battle Oswego for a regional title, and if they can get past that would face the likes of Sterling, Wheaton Academy and Belvedere North as possible sectional foes.

Marmion's also heating up: When Aurora Central and Marmion meet Feb. 13, it's not only going to be a renewal of their long-standing rivalry, it will mark a battle of the top two teams in the Suburban Catholic.

Aurora Central has been in the spotlight - deservedly so - while wrapping up the conference title.

But at 8-4 in conference, Marmion also is having a nice season, now alone in second in the SCC.

"The old cliché is you want your team playing its best ball down the stretch and right now we are clicking, guys are stepping up and playing," Marmion coach Rashon Burno said.

One of those is David Brouch, a sweet-shooting senior guard who followed up a 16-point game against East Aurora by hitting 6 of 7 3-pointers Saturday against St. Francis.

"I'm a 3-point shooter, I got a lot of open looks in the first half," Brouch said. "I was feeling pretty good, felt good in warmups and then felt good in the game and shot the ball well."

Brouch's recent scoring burst has pushed his season average over 10 points a game. That gives the Cadets three double-digit scorers: Sean Fichtel leads the way at 13.1 a game followed by Bryce Emory at 12.7.

"He's a man of extreme confidence," Burno said. "David Brouch has always been a kid who loves to be in pressure situations. As I tell my kids all the time, preparation meets opportunity. David is probably one of the most well-prepared players I've ever been around."

The win over St. Francis not only moved Marmion into second place in conference, it kept the Cadets unbeaten at home. They will try to keep that streak alive when they welcome Aurora Christian on Saturday - the last nonconference matchup between the schools before they join the same conference next season.

"We play well at home," Brouch said. "The last couple weeks of practice have been good and we've been playing some pretty decent basketball of late. We came out with a lot of energy."

Burno said one reason for the success at home is the Cadets shoot so much better, including 18 of 29 from the field against St. Francis and 20 of 25 at the free-throw line.

"Any time you are at home you know the baskets, you know the backdrop, we've got some decent shooters, so hopefully we can continue building on these two wins," Burno said.

Leaning to the gridiron: West Aurora senior Markus Cocroft is winding down an excellent career as point guard for the Blackhawks, and when the year ends so to might this basketball career.

The two-sport star says he is probably going to play football in college and is considering Northern Illinois, Western Illinois and Ball State.

Meanwhile, the interest in Aurora Central senior Kelley continues to pick up. The 6-foot-5 wing player doesn't play AAU ball, so he didn't have as much exposure coming into the year.

But as his numbers keep climbing - he had 31 points Saturday and is averaging over 20 a game this year - so to is the interest. It started with Division III schools, then came an offer from Division II Wisconsin-Parkside, and now Division I schools like Northern Iowa and Indiana State are asking Kelley for tape.

"We'll see what happens," Kelley said. "It doesn't matter where I go I just want to play."

Night of Hoops spoiler: West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman is glad to be part of Night of Hoops coming up Saturday at Batavia, and a chance to see Maureen Bryant be recognized.

But he doesn't want her to have too good of a time.

"Very much so (looking forward to it)," Kerkman said. "I don't want Maureen to be too unhappy but hopefully we can pull out a win over there."

Bryant, the mother West Aurora star John Bryant and grandmother of current Bulldog David Bryant, follows in a long line of people Batavia coach Jim Roberts has honored at Night of Hoops, including Ron Johnson and Peoria's Dick Van Scyoc in recent years.

It's certainly fitting she's being honored when Batavia plays West Aurora, a school Bryant's children left such a mark at.

"I think she's the mother of 11, a lot of them were basketball players, and they've all been tremendous contributes to our program," Kerkman said. "And Maureen and her late husband Fred were always great supporters of our program."

No quit: West Aurora's 51-46 loss to DVC-leader Naperville Central might have put the Blackhawks three games back and ended any chance of catching the Redhawks, but it won't change the way the team finishes the regular season.

"We have six more conference games left, we'll try to go 6-0 and try to at least get second or third place in conference," Cocroft said. "We're still going to play hard, still going to play team ball."

That's music to Kerkman's ears after the coach wasn't too happy with some of his team's shot selection and execution Friday.

"Hopefully our kids want to get better, they want to become a good team, but they have to learn how to play under pressure," Kerkman said. "Some of our decisions on shots and so forth was not very good."

Kerkman also wants to see a more consistent effort on the glass.

"When we've got on the boards we've been pretty successful, when we don't we're not very successful," Kerkman said.

Improved play: Even with the loss, West Aurora is playing much better basketball than earlier this year. At 2-3 after the first loss to Naperville Central, they sit with a 13-6 record after the second loss.

Count Naperville Central's Northwestern-bound senior Drew Crawford as among those who have noticed the difference.

After losing by 20 points in the first meeting, West Aurora led for much of Friday night's loss. The difference, at least in Crawford's eyes, is better chemistry.

"They have definitely improved since then," Crawford said. "They have become a better team, learned to play a lot better together as a team."