Waubonsie Valley misses chances against East Aurora

As Waubonsie Valley coach Steve Weemer said, there's a reason why East Aurora has won 11 straight games.

There too were reasons why Waubonsie Valley dropped to 7-6 on the year. At least nine of them.

The Warriors missed all 9 of their free throws and 7 layups by Weemer's count, and they shot 4 for 15 from 3-point land.

In a nonconference game between friendly rivals it added up to the visiting Tomcats' 67-62 win on Wednesday in Aurora.

Weemer said he'd take credit for the loss. Translation: The Warriors best be prepared to break a sweat in Thursday's practice.

"You can't go 0 for 9 from the free-throw line and expect to win a ballgame - or 4 for 15 at home," Weemer said. "You're going to have some cold spells on the road but dang, at home you've got to make some shots."

East Aurora (11-2) made them at a rapid rate, taking a quick 7-2 lead.

It started with game-high scorer Will Brown and Tramell Weathersby but it didn't end there. East Aurora coach Wendell Jeffries kept the pace by using his bench.

"A lot of people can match our five," Jeffries said, "but we don't think as many teams in the state can match our nine or 10."

Waubonsie Valley doesn't favor a track meet, yet the Warriors countered an 18-13 hole after one quarter to go up 28-27 midway through the second quarter, as Geremie Savoy banged inside for 8 of his 14 points.

East Aurora battled back to take a 32-30 halftime lead. That ballooned to 41-32 as Tomcats sophomore Ryan Boatright made three 3-pointers and scored 11 of his 13 points in the third quarter, motivated after Jeffries sat him most of the second quarter.

East Aurora never put Waubonsie Valley away, especially when Warriors guard Damien Perkins got active and senior Jelani Johnson hit 2 fourth-quarter 3s and scored 12 of a team-high 20 points.

The Warriors got within 59-54 with 2:18 left when Jamar Shepard converted his second straight three-point play.

Johnson has played with and against 24-point scorer Brown and Tomcats such as Boatright, Jamario Taylor and Rashante Zackery going back to youth travel leagues, so Wednesday was a good time. To an extent.

"It was kind of fun, there was kind of trash-talking, too," Johnson said. "We had to trash-talk back, but they came out to win so that's kind of disappointing."