Hilltoppers' Shurna lives up to big-game reputation

In the heat of a sectional boys basketball game, even Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith couldn't help but be a John Shurna fan.

"He doesn't miss!" Wolfsmith yelled from the bench after one of many Shurna baskets.

Shurna made his last night in a Glenbard West uniform a memorable one.

The Northwestern-bound senior scored 33 points, 24 in the second half, to go with 16 rebounds and 4 blocks in the Hilltoppers' 67-64 loss to Bartlett in the Class 4A East Aurora sectional semifinal.

"That's all he had?" asked teammate Shane Bryant. "I thought he had 40."

Shurna was seemingly all net on every jumper in valiantly leading his team back from a double-digit deficit.

OK, so he actually did make 6 of his first 7 shots in the fourth quarter.

"We tried everything against him," Wolfsmith said. "We tried big, small, double, triple -- he was hitting everything he put up. The basket had to have looked as big as a lake to him."

True to his modest, self-deprecating form, Shurna deflected any praise of his game. He sooner focused on the 3-pointer for the tie he missed in the final seconds.

"It hurts right now because I thought I had that last one," he said. "It was as good a look as I was going to get."

Hilltoppers coach Tim Hoder knew who would be taking the game's final shot.

The same kid who scored 49 points in two regional games, leading No. 13 seed Glenbard West to upsets of Wheaton North and Naperville Central.

"He definitely wants the ball at the end. It makes it tough, because everybody knows he wants the ball," Hoder said. "He definitely hit some big shots down the stretch and showed why he's such a great player and plays well in the big games.

"He's an exceptional high school basketball player, and a great kid."

Indeed, there was Shurna offering candy to passers-by, even while talking about a season-ending loss.

"He's got that mean streak about him on the floor," Bryant said, "but off the floor I don't think you'd ever hear him say a bad thing about anybody. On the court he's definitely very competitive."

Shurna can now say he was at the heart of two memorable postseason runs. As a junior he led Glenbard West to its first sectional title since 1938.

It was with a lot of pride and affection that Hilltoppers fans serenaded him with chants of "Johnny Shurna" as the team walked off the floor.

"We're definitely known as a football school, and I come to all the football games," Shurna said, "but maybe we left an impression that Glenbard West can just as well be a basketball school.

"High school basketball, playing with your best friends -- I'll take these memories with me for the rest of my life."