East Aurora overcomes Bartlett

When the Bartlett and East Aurora boys basketball teams play each other you can assume it will be a nail-biter.

That was certainly true when the two teams faced off for the first of two meetings in Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division play as the Tomcats (7-1, 3-0) came from behind to defeat the Hawks (5-5, 0-3) 66-59 on Thursday night at Bartlett.

Ryan Boatright kept East Aurora in the game scoring 39 points with a 16-point third quarter, and Dominique Johnson's three fourth quarter 3-pointers clinched the victory for the Tomcats.

“Boatright kept telling us to stay with it,” Johnson said. “I had some open shots and just made the best of it. Overall, we got more aggressive and it was a passionate, hard-fought win.”

Lance Whitaker tallied 9 points and Matt Chaltin hit a pair of buckets from behind the arc in the third quarter to preserve a 6-point edge for the Hawks at 46-40.

However, Boatright and Johnson hit back-to-back 3s to open the final period to tie the game. Marcus Aluquin hit a pair of free throws to give Bartlett the lead again at 48-46, but Johnson's second trey off a Boatright steal and assist with 6:11 left in the game gave East Aurora the lead for good at 49-48.

“He'd been struggling with his shot the last couple of games, but he hit three big ones tonight,” East Aurora coach Wendell Jeffries said of Johnson. “On that second one, Boat's first option was to shoot and his second option was to find the open shooter. I give him credit for finding Dominique.”

Bartlett kept it tight until Boatright and Letrell “Snoop” Viser hit 8 out of 10 free throws in the final 1:22 of the game.

The Hawks had controlled the game early never trailing in the first half and grabbing a 16-9 lead after the first quarter and a 27-21 advantage at the break, which included four first half 3-pointers, two from David Greiter.

Despite the loss, Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith was happy with the defense against an East Aurora team that beat Proviso West 113-104 the night before.

“I thought we really contested a lot of (Boatright's) shots,” Wolfsmith said. “I thought we defended well as a team. But they've got a lot of capable players, and (Johnson) made three big threes.”

Whitaker finished with 19 points, Chaltin 12 and Greiter 10 for the Hawks. Viser added 10 for the Tomcats.