Starks leads W. Aurora to 5th straight; No. 1 Simeon next
PONTIAC — There will be no consolation championship for West Aurora this year at the famed Pontiac Holiday Tournament.
But the Blackhawks’ 43-41 boys basketball victory over Oak Park-River Forest did not come easily on Tuesday afternoon.
Keyed by Juwan Starks’ game-changing run to end the third quarter, West Aurora withstood a potential game-tying shot by OPRF at the buzzer to secure its fifth consecutive win.
West Aurora (6-2) dropped its opening game at Pontiac the last two years, only to run the table in the consolation bracket.
Nothing illuminates the field at the 16-team, double-elimination as much as the Blackhawks’ quarterfinal date this morning: defending Class 4A state champion Simeon (6-0), which turned back a valiant Schaumburg effort to win 56-43.
“We’ll let the chips fall where they may,” West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman said of the top-seeded and nationally ranked Wolverines.
With 2:24 to play in the third quarter, Starks, held to 4 points in the first half, gave West Aurora the lead for good at 26-25 with a jumper from the left elbow.
The Blackhawks ran the same play on the ensuing possession, but this time Starks’ connection came from beyond the arc.
“They ran the same play two times in a row to Juwan Starks,” OPRF coach Matt Maloney said. “We had a mental lapse, and it cost us 5 points in back-to-back possessions.”
Starks then extended his personal-game run to eight with another short jumper and a split trip at the line.
The West Aurora lead had suddenly swelled to 32-25 but was reduced by two entering the fourth quarter.
“The intensity level wasn’t that good (in the first half),” said Starks, who finished with game highs of 14 points and 8 rebounds. “In the second half we picked it up a lot more. (My teammates) trusted me with the ball.”
“Obviously, (Starks) is our best offensive threat,” said Kerkman, who picked up career win No. 702. “Juwan was tough to stop. He had some big baskets.”
Oak Park (6-3) cut its deficit to 34-32 three minutes in to the fourth quarter, but Kyle Pilmer (10 points) restored the Blackhawks’ 6-point spread by first tipping in Starks’ miss and then scoring off Starks’ brilliant feed on a fast break.
But the Huskies would not go quietly.
Following Starks’ final field goal upped the West Aurora lead to 42-34, Oak Park closed the game on a 7-1 surge.
Fueled by back-to-back misses on fronts ends of bonus free throws, Oak Park had its last-second chance to send the game into overtime miss badly.
Jonathon Dennison and Brandon Hayes each scored 5 points for West Aurora.
Josh Lang paced Oak Park with 13 points.
Neither team scored in the opening four minutes of play as he squads each shot 33 percent (8 of 24) in the opening half, which ended with Oak Park nursing a 19-17 lead.