West Aurora edges Hinsdale Central for sectional crown
West Aurora senior Roland Griffin talked the talk before Friday night's Class 4A East Aurora sectional championship game against Hinsdale Central and star center Matt Rafferty.
Griffin then went out and backed up the talk — and then some.
Griffin, headed to Illinois State, held the Furman-bound Rafferty to 10 points on one end while scoring 31 points on the other to power the short-handed Blackhawks to a 60-55 victory.
Rafferty was coming off a 40-point game Tuesday in a sectional semifinal win over Metea Valley.
“He was talking all day how he was going to shut him (Rafferty) down,” West Aurora senior Tommy Koth said. “He did a great job. He deserves it. I knew he could play like this. We need that every game.”
West Aurora (22-8), which won its 21st sectional championship, will play Bolingbrook on Tuesday at the Class 4A Hinsdale Central supersectional.
The Blackhawks never trailed but were not able to breathe easy until the final seconds when Griffin assisted sophomore DaQuan Cross for a layup — the first varsity points for Cross in just his second varsity game — to give the Blackhawks a 59-55 lead.
“It got very scary,” West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman said. “Fortunately we got the stops when we had to and got the free throws when we had to.”
Hinsdale Central (23-7) twice fell into big holes — once each half — and both times dug its way out. Trailing 28-13 in the second quarter the Red Devils closed to 29-24 by halftime behind consecutive 3s from Thomas Ivey, then tied the game at 29 with the first 5 points of the third quarter.
The Blackhawks again surged, building a 50-36 lead with five minutes left when Marquis Howard lobbed an alley-oop to Griffin.
The Red Devils responded, a 14-1 run drawing them within 51-50 with 1:40 left.
“That's the way our kids have fought the last four years,” Red Devils coach Nick Latorre said. “They are just resilient. Two chances we could have folded up shop. I was proud of our kids to get back in the game two different times. Says a lot about their character.”
West Aurora built its first-half lead with some hot outside shooting. The Blackhawks hit four 3s in the first quarter, including a pair from Reggie Jordan, to lead 19-8.
Jordan filled in at point guard for 3-year starter Matt Dunn. That created an extremely thin bench, especially when sixth man Drake Spears fouled out with 3:33 left in the third quarter, forcing all the Blackhawk starters to log heavy minutes.
“We condition for this,” Jordan said. “I can't get tired. It's too late in the season. I'm trying to get downstate. I'm a senior. I have to take that pressure on. Coaches say to go out and have fun, keep my turnovers down.”
West Aurora also was effective taking the Red Devils off the dribble. Griffin did most of the damage, scoring 16 points in the first half and 15 in the second, and freshman Camron Donatlan also was able to attack the basket with 12 points.
“My coach noticed the first play of the game when I got off the dribble fast he said to keep doing that because they can't stop you off the first step,” Donatlan said.
After the Red Devils tied the game at 29 on George Kiernan's 3-pointer and a layup from Ives, the Blackhawks regained the lead with a 5-point possession. Donatlan drove and scored while getting fouled. He missed the free throw, but West Aurora got the ball back and Griffin drove and finished a 3-point play for a 34-29 lead.
That started a 17-3 run to close the third quarter up 46-32. Griffin had 11 of the points, showing a variety of moves inside and out.
The Red Devils rallied. Ives scored on a behind-the-back drive for a layup to trim the Blackhawks' lead to 50-44. After the Blackhawks missed 4 straight at the line, Kiernan was fouled shooting a 3-point shot and made all 3.
Griffin split free throws for a 51-47 lead; Ives nailed a 3. Howard hit 2 free throws, drew a controversial charge to wipe out a Kiernan putback, and Donatlan scored for a 55-50 lead.
The Red Devils got as close as 57-55 with 20.6 left on the final of Kiernan's 18 points. Cross, who played on the sophomore team all season and was only in the game after Koth and Spears fouled out, clinched the win with his lay-in.
“You know he's a great football player,” Kerkman said. “He carries that poise over to basketball. I thought he did a heck of a job.”
Hinsdale Central missed its first seven 3-point attempts and shot just 18 for 55 from the field for the game.
“I thought their defense was really good,” Latorre said. “I thought they did a good job taking away the things we like to do and we had to rely a little too much on the perimeter shot. They played extremely well defensively. We had opportunities. We didn't convert.”
Rafferty and Kiernan both grabbed 10 rebounds and Ives added 10 points.
“I couldn't ask for a better group to coach,” Latorre said.