West Aurora earns 5th straight victory

Depending on who you liked and what half it was, there was something to cheer about Saturday at West Aurora.

West Aurora looked like "Showtime" in the first half of the DuPage Valley Conference contest, scoring 46 points. Glenbard North increased its intensity for a 47-point second half.

West Aurora had a 28-point lead cut to 5 but hung on for its fifth straight victory, 77-66.

"I didn't even go over any strategy or X's and O's. Why?" West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman said of his halftime address, up 46-19. "As (former Blackhawks coach) John McDougal used to say, 'You never kick a bird in the butt when it's singin'.' And I thought we were singing."

Blackhawks guard D.J. Vaughn was making steals, the pick and roll and inbounds plays were working, and forward Derrick Johnson was cruising to a personal-high 31 points on 12-of-14 shooting from the floor.

"We were just being patient and knocking down shots and finding the open man," the 6-foot-4 senior said.

West Aurora (6-7, 2-3) led 22-13 after a quarter, then started to make it look silly. Juwan Starks, who scored 25 points, converted his second three-point play of the game and gave the Blackhawks their 27-point halftime lead on a putback at the buzzer.

"That's probably about as good as we can play," Kerkman said.

Glenbard North (6-7, 2-3) had next.

"We started off playing defense, hustling, diving on the floor, just getting loose balls," said Panthers senior guard James Fleming, who scored 23 of his 26 points in the second half. "That's really what got us going. We just have to do that for four quarters and we'll be fine."

A Johnson lane floater had West Aurora up 51-23 at 6:10 of the third quarter. Fleming - aided by junior forward Brandon Clark with 18 points and 6 rebounds before fouling out late - went to work.

Fleming hit two 3s and scored 14 points in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 59-43 entering the fourth.

Skirting screens Fleming sank three more 3s. Kid brother Josh Fleming and Mike Carev joined in, and a Clark free throw had the Panthers within 69-64 with 1:03 left.

Starks restored West Aurora order with a free throw and a putback off his own miss for a 72-64 lead. He and Johnson made 5 of 6 foul shots in the last 32 seconds.

"It is a great comeback to put yourselves in the game," said Glenbard North coach Joe Larson. "But we want to win, that's the bottom line. You can't dig yourself a hole like that. But I'm proud of every one of them."