WW South drills 16 3s to beat West Aurora
Travis Kern and Reilly O'Toole were on a different planet Wednesday night.
The Wheaton Warrenville South sharpshooters put on a dazzling display against host West Aurora in the Blackhawks' Class 4A regional boys basketball semifinal.
The dashing duo combined for 15 of the Tigers' 16 field goals from beyond the arc in leading WW South to the championship on Friday night with a 76-59 victory.
"It's never easy beating a team three times in the same season," said O'Toole, who scored a season-high 31 points to lead both teams. "I don't know how many teams have done it to West Aurora, but I would think it is less than five."
In fact, the Tigers became the fourth DuPage Valley Conference school joining Naperville North, Glenbard East and Naperville Central to defeat the 15-time state quarterfinalist three times in the same season since West Aurora left the Upstate Eight in 1997.
WW South (19-9), the No. 10 seed in the East Aurora sectional complex, will meet No. 2 Downers Grove South (24-3), Friday night.
The seventh-seeded Blackhawks, searching for a 19th consecutive regional final, had their season end at 14-12.
WW South struggled offensively in the opening quarter, missing 9 of its 13 field-goal attempts in falling behind 13-10 after one.
West Aurora junior Juwan Starks' 7 straight team points was the early storyline, but O'Toole imposed his will midway through the second quarter. The Illinois-bound football recruit connected on four 3-pointers in succession, and Kern added two of his own as WW South, which would go 16-for-26 from 3-point range on the night, ended the quarter on a 15-5 run to lead 30-23 at the break.
WW South broke the game open in the third quarter.
O'Toole erupted for 13 more points in the third quarter alone, and when Kern filled three more shots from beyond the arc the senior hit eight in succession for all 24 of his points to extend the lead to 59-35 on the opening possession of the fourth quarter. The senior guard played in only his sixth game of the season after a football-sustained collarbone injury.
Starks had 23 points to lead West Aurora. "We got our butts kicked," said West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman. "We lost the two good shooters."
Kenny Battle Jr. sparked West Aurora off the bench with 16 points, but the other four starters only combined for 12 points.
Blackhawk starters Kyle Pilmer (6 points, 3 blocks), Brandon Hayes and Jonathan Dennison played their final game.