Boys basketball: Balanced attack helps West Aurora dominate rival
The latest installment of the Aurora rivalry was all West Aurora Friday night.
The Blackhawks started fast and never looked back while downing their east side rivals, 76-33, in front of a packed house at East Aurora.
Travis Brown Jr. led four players in double figures with 17 points for West Aurora.
The Tomcats took their only lead at 2-0 on a bucket by Davion Jackson. But the Blackhawks scored the next 13 points to take control and take the crowd out of the game. They led 23-11 after one quarter and increased the margin to 44-19 by halftime.
After allowing that opening basket, the Blackhawks’ intense defense forced turnovers on 7 straight possessions. Brown had 2 steals in the sequence and was on the receiving end after Abraham Martinez came up with a steal and fed Brown in transition.
“We talked about stepping up our defensive intensity and let them know that we’re going to be right there the entire time,” said West Aurora coach Michael Fowler. “I thought we did that. We stuck to the game plan and it worked out well for us.”
The Tomcats regrouped and made a couple of mini-runs but couldn’t get over the hump. A 3-pointer by Marcus Wallace Jr. capped a 6-2 spurt that made it 31-17 midway through the second quarter, but that was as close as they got. West Aurora scored the final 10 points of the quarter.
Terrence Smith contributed 14 points off the bench for West Aurora (17-8, 10-1). Gabriel Gonzalez and Kael Adkins scored 10 apiece while Gonzalez added 5 rebounds. Antonio Higgins chipped in 8.
Not a lot of rebounds were available given that West Aurora shot 54% in the first half. East Aurora (8-19, 5-6) shot 50% but got only 18 shots off after being forced into 16 turnovers.
Jackson and Wallace finished with 10 points apiece for East Aurora.
Fowler appreciated the balanced scoring in the rivalry game.
“Especially the seniors, it’s their last East-West game and they went out there and got the job done,” he said. “We always talk about, ‘I don’t care who scores, it’s how we score the basketball.’”
They did that mostly on drives, layups and dunks. Brown hit 2 of the Blackhawks’ 4 three-pointers in the first quarter. Smith got 8 of his points on dunks.
Reserves played almost exclusively in the fourth quarter, with the clock running by the end. Fifteen players checked in for West Aurora and 11 of them scored.