West Aurora survives Lockport

They have been rivals for decades and share glorious traditions on the basketball court.

Saturday night in Aurora, Lockport, and its deliberate offense, renewed its long-standing rivalry with West Aurora.

The results were typical of the combatants' storied boys basketball programs as the host Blackhawks staved off a final Lockport possession to hold on for a 41-38 victory.

The Porters (8-6), who suffered their fourth consecutive loss, had their last-ditch attempt to force overtime end with an errant pass with eight-tenths of a second to play.

West Aurora captured its seventh victory in its last eight outings to improve to 13-5 on the season.

In the defining sequence of the nonconference game, West Aurora senior guard Markus Cocroft broke threw the Porters' defense to find freshman sensation Juwan Starks on consecutive field goals.

Starks, who had not scored since opening the first quarter with 6 of the Blackhawks' 9 points, was the only player in double figures with 10 points after converting both Cocroft assists.

"I try to look for Juwan as much as I could," said Cocroft, who was limited to 4 points but engineered the Blackhawks' offense to near perfection.

West Aurora had a mere turnover through the opening three quarters and finished the game with five miscues.

"That's pretty doggone good," said West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman. "We obviously couldn't afford too many more."

West Aurora struggled mightily from the field in the opening half, shooting 6-for-23 overall and missing its first 8 attempts of the second quarter.

Malcolm Graham hit a 3-pointer with two minutes and 45 seconds to play in the first quarter, and West Aurora did not score again until Graham converted a pair at the free-throw line six minutes into the second quarter.

When Jamal Blackmond snatched a blocked D. J. Vaughn 3-pointer out of midair and fired in one motion to beat the first-half buzzer, West Aurora had a 15-13 lead at the break.

Lockport attempted only 13 shots total from the field in the opening half.

"Defense had a lot to do with it," Kerkman said of the frigid first-half shooting.

West Aurora sustained its precarious halftime lead for the entire second half - but not without several tests from the Porters.

West Aurora starting center Tyronne Carey scored all 7 of his points in the third quarter, and Graham not only opened the fourth quarter with a midrange jumper but also fed Kyle Pilmer on the ensuing possession for a 3-point play and the Blackhawks' largest lead of the night at 32-25.

But Lockport refused to wilt, setting the stage for the game-changing collaborations between Cocroft and Starks.

The Porters' Ed Ward hit two free throws to shave the Blackhawks' lead to 34-32 with two minutes to play.

But Cocroft dribbled through three defenders and found Starks with a no-look pass to double the Blackhawks' lead.

Lockport sought to answer with a 3-pointer at the other end, but Cocroft rebounded the miss and found Starks all alone with exactly one minute to play to make it 38-32.

"(Cocroft) can break a defense down," Kerkman said.

Cyle Ford hit two 3-pointers from at least 25 feet each on two of the Porters' three following possessions, but Cocroft and Bryson Hughes accounted for the final score from the free-throw line.

"We played as hard as we could," Cocroft said. "The coaches told us to be patient and stay within our rhythm."

"It was just a great basketball play (by Cocroft)," Lockport coach Larry Thompson said of the Blackhawks' money-time possessions. "We couldn't pressure the ball. Their kids have improved so much with their ball-handling (since I saw them at Pontiac)."