West Aurora ousts Naperville North

The last thing Naperville North expected to be doing Tuesday night was reflecting on a great season.

After all the fourth-seeded Huskies were taking on a West Aurora team they swept during the DuPage Valley Conference campaign and the 20-win favorites had their sights set on a possible Class 4A Waubonsie Valley regional title matchup Friday with Oswego East.

But the No. 13 Blackhawks (13-15) used a patient, spread attack on offense and some tough, in-your-face defense to surprise Naperville North 46-40.

"It's a very good win for us," veteran West Aurora coach Gordon Kerkman said after his team pulled off the upset to reach a regional final for the 17th straight year. "It's been a little bit of a struggle this season."

Despite a big size advantage for the Huskies (20-7), West Aurora managed to cling to a 3-point lead at the end of each of the first three quarters before winning at the free-throw line down the stretch, thanks in large part to Brandon Hayes, who sank 6 of 8 foul shots in the final quarter.

Naperville North, meanwhile, never found its shooting eye, not from the floor or the free-throw line. The Huskies shot just 12 of 37 from the floor and converted just half of their 28 free-throws attempts on the night.

"Not to take anything away from West Aurora, but tonight was more about our poor execution," Naperville North senior James O'Shaughnessy said. "As a whole we just really couldn't get going. Of course the season didn't end the way we wanted it to, but we did win two tournaments and we got 20 wins for the first time in a while.

"When I look back I'm not going to say it was a failure. It just didn't end the right way."

West Aurora sophomore Juwan Starks had a lot to do with the way the game ended. He led all scorers with 7 first-half points as the Blackhawks led 24-21 at the break. Starks then gave his team a 43-38 lead when he saw an opening in the Huskies defense and cut to the hole for a one-handed score with 1:31 remaining.

"We just played more aggressive, we rebounded and we hit some free throws," said Starks, who felt West Aurora could have beaten the Huskies the last time the two teams met. "We've got momentum now, and today a lot of seniors stepped up."

Seniors Mike Neil, D.J. Vaughn and Tyrone Carey may not have scored a ton of points in the game, but they each played tough defense and did combine for four critical 3-point baskets.

For Naperville North, forward Joe McNicholas had 11 points and 6-foot-10 center Matt Hasse had 8 rebounds, but the seniors were unable to dominate down low like they had much of the season. Junior Matt LaCosse, who will anchor the squad next season, finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent his season from coming to a halt.

"We played our hearts out," LaCosse said. "It's sad we came out with a loss, but we'll learn from it. Last year we were 12-14 and this year we're 20-7, which is a huge jump. We're headed in the right direction."

First-year Huskies coach Jeff Powers echoed those words.

"Offensively, we just didn't hit shots," he said. "We've got a lot of young kids and they'll remember this. It will propel us into next year."