W. Aurora storms past Panthers

Once the West Aurora boys basketball team's defense took hold, the offense kicked in. One fed the other, and it all snowballed on Glenbard North.

The perfect storm kept West Aurora's record equally perfect. With their 56-31 victory over visiting Glenbard North on Friday, the Blackhawks jumped to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference.

Offense was in short supply early for West Aurora and all night for Glenbard North (1-6, 1-2). The Blackhawks missed their first 10 field-goal attempts as the game went scoreless for the first three minutes.

Meanwhile, Glenbard North was having difficulty simply getting shots, as the Panthers committed 12 first-half turnovers.

Leading 7-6 late in the first quarter, Theo Hicks, who scored 10 points, converted a three-point play that ignited an 11-0 run by the Blackhawks that stretched well into the second quarter. A steal and end-to-end layup by Corbin Spearman pushed the lead to double digits, which is where it stayed for nearly all of the game from there.

Despite their shaky shooting from the field and just 5-of-14 success rate from the foul line, the Blackhawks held a healthy, 23-14 lead at halftime.

"I was extremely happy with our defense, and I can't say I was unhappy with our offense," said West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman. "We took pretty good shots for the most part; we just couldn't get many to go down. If you're getting good shots, that's all you can ask. But you can't get layups all the time, so you need some of those jump shots to go down."

Glenbard North can identify. Though the Panthers committed just five turnovers after baptism-by-fire in the first half, they managed only 6 second-half field goals.

"When you play West Aurora in their gym and they're playing with the type of speed and intensity that they do…it's difficult," said Glenbard North coach Erin Dwyer. "It's like playing against a college-caliber defense. It took us two quarters to adjust to it."

Glenbard North cut the deficit to single digits early in the third on a jumper by Ryan Gasiriowski, but West Aurora's lead never dipped below double digits after that.

West Aurora's Marquis Stewart and Jamal Blackmond -- who tied for game-high honors with 14 points each -- put on a fast break display in the third quarter. Blackmond scored on the break from a nice behind the back pass from Stewart, then returned the favor moments later, feeding Stewart in transition.

"We should be getting those points," Kerkman said. "We've got enough quickness to force turnovers and get points off the break consistently."

Reid Hulett and Marko Govedarica led Glenbard North with 8 points apiece.

"You have to take care of the ball and be a very good passing team against pressure like West," Dwyer said. "If you lose your composure, it takes away passing options and you don't score. We'll just have to learn from it."

Perhaps surprisingly, West Aurora has kept rolling without its top scorer and rebounder, 6-foot-5 senior Tyler Thompson.

"Did I think we'd be undefeated? I really don't think too much about it, but had you asked me at the beginning of the season, I would have said no," Kerkman said. "We've still got a lot of work to do. We're not as big as we've been in other years, so we've got to rely on our speed and get more people on the boards."

Holding opponents to 31 points certainly helps.