Davidson enjoying 1st year at Aurora Christian

If you are new to the area and missed out on seeing Aurora Christian Don Davidson build the Eagles program from scratch the last 30 years, you are in luck.

You can see the spitting image.

Marc Davidson is in the first year this winter at Aurora Christian, taking over for his father Don.

And according to some of the Eagles who have played for both coaches, the younger Davidson is a lot like the older one.

"He's the same guy but he's a different guy. He has a lot more fire. He's probably a lot like Coach (Don) Davidson 40 years ago," said senior Eric Anderson.

"Playing with him is great. You never know who is going to start, maybe it made me come out with a little more fire. He's always keeping us on our toes. He's very intense. It's like coaching times 10, he's got to get it out."

Many of Don Davidson's best years at Aurora Christian came when Marc was the star player from 1987-1991. The Eagles went 25-4, 27-3, 30-4 and 22-5.

Marc Davidson still holds almost all the school records. They include 2,300 career points (his brother Matt is second), a 25.6 scoring average in 1991. 1,942 rebounds and 458 assists.

Davidson earned a scholarship to Illinois before he transferred to Trinity. He stared there before beginning a professional career in Europe that lasted until 2006.

After returning and coaching at his former college Trinity, Davidson now is back at his high school alma mater - and making a pretty smooth transition. He said coaching the team during the summer helped him prepare for this winter.

"The coaching stuff is pretty much the same as the college level," Davidson said. "The coaching I love. Once I get out there that's when I feel I'm in my element. These are a great group of kids to coach."

Because of the success of Aurora Christian's football team finishing second in Class 4A, Davidson had to wait for about half his basketball team when the season started. That caused a few problems at the start of the year, though the team has started to play better the last few weeks with an 7-9 record.

"We're starting to come together now," Davidson said. "I knew it would take us awhile because we had that tremendous run in football. We were missing essentially half our team. Hopefully we will continue to build this and keep improving."

Davidson has two players who he'll be able to build around not just this year but the next two seasons, sophomores Zach Johnson and Jeremy Anderson.

Anderson, a wing, is fifth on the team with a 5.8 scoring average. Johnson, a 6-foot-7 center, is the Eagles' most improved player. He's averaging 4.8 points and 3.7 rebounds.

"He's made unbelievable strides," Davidson said. "I knew he has some potential, I had no idea he would progress this quickly. Even from the start of the season to now he's making great strides. He's gaining confidence every time out. He's understanding he's a load and he's hard to handle in there as long as he is and with his size. It's going to be nice to have him around the next two-and-a-half years."

Johnson was one of the players who got a late start because of football, while Anderson also said it took some time for him to fit in at the varsity.

"It's going really well, I love it," Johnson said. "It took me a little while to get back into it."

"It took some time, the first few weeks started going a little rough but once I developed some chemistry with the other guys it's gone better," Anderson said.

Makeup date: St. Charles North and East Aurora's postponed game from Jan. 16 has been rescheduled for Feb. 24.

It's the North Stars' last game of the regular season. With the Tomcats undefeated in conference and the North Stars sitting with 1 loss, St. Charles North has a chance to make it a meaningful finale.

"We hope it is for something," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said.

Loving the legends: Players on St. Charles and St. Charles North agreed on one thing Saturday night - they enjoyed their chance to be part of the first Night of Legends.

Long-time St. Charles coaches Ron Johnson, Jim Parker and Chuck Rachow - with a combined 90-plus years of coaching St. Charles teams - were honored between the St. Charles East-St. Charles North varsity girls and boys games.

"It was cool being able to respect the tradition here at St. Charles East," Saints senior Zach Scott said. "They deserve it, they deserve recognition of their great accomplishments."

Both coaching staffs wore jackets with RJ, JP and CR logos while both teams sported T-shirts celebrating the Night of Legends. Both St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin and St. Charles East's Brian Clodi thanked the coaches for building the St. Charles tradition, and then players from both teams shook their hands.

"It was awesome to see," St. Charles North senior Nick Neari said. "Our coaches played under most of them. It was cool to see the transition of coaches and advice to our coaches and our coaches memories of playing for them and playing for St. Charles. It was just a fun time."

Pick your poison: When scouting St. Charles North, Clodi emphasized not leaving Zach Hirsch.

It's easier said than done, when guards Jon DeMoss and Nick Neari beat their defender off the dribble, Hirsch's man sometimes leaves to help. And Hirsch made the Saints pay five times with 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 17 points.

"When they go to a zone, Jonathan and Nick do a real good job of making two people guard one," Poulin said. "If we attack his side you kind of have to pick your poison. Zach was on fire."

With 10 wins in 11 games to improve to 13-5 overall, Poulin has a lot to be happy about. He'd be even happier if the North Stars played a little better with big leads in the fourth quarter than they did the past week against Larkin and St. Charles East.

"We have to make better decisions in the fourth quarter with the lead," Poulin said. "We have to learn how to really finish a team off."

Foul woes: St. Charles East lost consecutive games last weekend to Elgin and St. Charles North, and star center Kevin Senechalle found himself in foul trouble both nights before fouling out.

"Two games back to back," Clodi said. " When you get in foul trouble you don't get in a flow. He is used to be playing 28, 29 sometimes 32 minutes."

Instead, Senechalle played 20 and scored 6 points against St. Charles North, 15 below his average. Yet the 3-14 Saints were only 2 points down in the fourth quarter against 13-5 St. Charles North.

"Our kids played with composure and battled," Clodi said. "These guys have stuck together. We walk out of here pretty proud. At times we make mistakes but we have had a chance to win every game. In the fourth quarter we have to dictate the kind of quarter we are going to have."

Looking ahead: It's a pretty quiet week coming up until Friday, when streaking West Aurora gets a shot at DVC leader Naperville Central and Northwestern-bound Drew Crawford. The Redhawks won the first meeting easily 68-48, but West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman said his team didn't play their best that night, which the Blackhawks (13-5) have been doing a lot lately with 7 wins in their last 8 games.

Marmion and St. Francis meet Saturday, a week after the both pulled off impressive 1-point wins. The Spartans edged Wheaton Academy while Marmion surprised East Aurora.

The same day Aurora Central puts its unbeaten Suburban Catholic Conference record on the line against Marian, while Batavia tries to avenge a loss to DeKalb and Tri-Cities foes St. Charles East and Geneva square off.