Tragedy strikes Aurora Christian family
Aurora Christian’s semifinal Saturday night at the Plano Christmas Classic began with the public address announcer asking the crowd for a moment of silence and a prayer for the family of Jonathan Harrell.
Harrell, a senior 4-year standout for the Eagles and one of the most outgoing and upbeat players in the area, is the youngest of nine children, all who attended Aurora Christian.
Harrell’s sister Janella and brother Jarred came to watch Harrell play Friday at Plano, and tragedy struck on their way home. A head-on car accident on Rt. 30 in Oswego left Janella, 24, in intensive care and killed 21-year-old Jarred.
“I’ve met him (Jarred) a number of times, nice young guy, going to school and his sister, they are all professionals,” Eagles coach Pat McNamara said. “John is the baby. They are all very successful. Jarred was a terrific young man.”
Almost exactly 24 hours after the accident, Johnathan Harrell took the court at Plano after the prayer from the crowd and hugs from his own teammates and many from the opponent, Ottawa.
Harrell led the Eagles with 15 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds in a 64-45 loss to the No. 1 seed Ottawa on a night when everyone’s minds were on matters much more important than basketball.
“Obviously we’re happy to be playing the championship game Monday night but it’s a sad night when one of the players in the game lost his brother in an automobile accident last night,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “The game was played but it was so minor to what had happened.”
McNamara didn’t know Harrell would play until shortly before the game.
“John grew up in a gym,” McNamara said. “Different people react in different ways when death is involved. Some people need some time and other people would rather do what they love to do and he loves to play basketball.”
Both crowds cheered when Harrell hit a jumper early in the first quarter to put the Eagles on the scoreboard.
“We found out right before we got here,” said Cooper, who embraced Harrell after the game and added that a couple of his players know Harrell from AAU games. “The game had a different feel to it tonight because of that. There wasn’t much emotion at the start of the game.”
Ottawa (10-1) never trailed, leading 15-8 after one quarter and 29-20 at halftime.
John Carroll, a returning all-tournament selection from Ottawa’s 2012 tourney championship team, was equally unstoppable hitting deep 3s or driving to the rim.
Carroll finished with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
“He took over the game,” McNamara said. “We told them before the game, if he shoots from the volleyball line, let him shoot. We lose that way, he’s that good. And he was good. They have a great shot of repeating this year.”
McNamara pulled Harrell with three minutes left in the game to a standing ovation from the Aurora Christian fans right behind the team’s bench.
“It was nice to see,” McNamara said. “It was a very supportive crowd on both ends. It was a real difficult situation and it was nice to see.”
Aurora Christian (8-6) will play for third place at 7 p.m. Monday against Burlington Central. The Eagles defeated Kaneland last year to take third.
They — and especially Harrell — will have a few new fans.
“We’re fortunate we have a team full of really good kids and both teams have a lot of really good kids and I thought both teams and the crowd handled the difficult situation in a proper manner,” Cooper said. “It’s just a really sad event.”