Glenbard East spoils West Aurora’s fun
Glenbard East couldn’t defend its 2010 and 2011 DuPage Valley Conference boys basketball championships Wednesday night, but the Rams kept West Aurora from celebrating the 2012 title in Lombard.
A 70-62 victory sent Glenbard East into the postseason riding a wave of momentum and allowed Naperville North to claim the DVC title outright. The Huskies defeated Glenbard North 65-51 in Naperville.
“It knocked us out of the conference championship,” said West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman, battling a cold. “We win and we’re tied for the championship. At this particular point that’s the only perspective I can see. Our kids played fairly hard.”
“This one had a lot of pride at stake,” said Glenbard East coach Scott Miller, honored before the game for his 25th year in coaching, including last year’s third-place state finish. “We just feel like we’re really playing good basketball right now. ... We felt if we couldn’t win the league, we wanted to at least have some say in it, so our guys really stepped up, and I felt we played an outstanding second half.”
West Aurora (21-5 , 11-3) led by as many as 6 points in the first half, but Glenbard East (14-11, 8-6) responded to take a 30-27 lead into halftime.
The Blackhawks came out of the locker room determined, scoring the first 8 points of the third quarter. Again Glenbard East refused to give in, bouncing right back to take the lead for good. The Rams led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter.
“It’s always sweeter when, we won it two years in a row, and we could be the spoiler,” Rams senior Pat Walsh said. “It’s like winning it again. Perfect game by us today, and they played great too. Being a spoiler is awesome. It feels great, especially on Senior Night.”
Walsh saved his best game for his last on his home court, knocking down six 3-pointers to score a personal-best 24 points. Junior Tahron Harvey, whose move to point guard from forward coincided with the Rams’ late-season resurgence, scored 21, 17 in the second half.
“Everybody just feels comfortable with him out on the floor,” Miller said of Harvey. “It just makes other guys be able to do their jobs. Pat Walsh to be able to just sit out there and knock shots down and not have to handle the ball.”
They stepped up even as the Blackhawks held Rams senior Dante Bailey in check with just 7 points.
“That’s what good teams do,” Kerkman said. “When somebody doesn’t step up, somebody else steps up. Walsh, I never realized he was that good a shooter, but he shot the lights out tonight and the last time we played them.”
“When I saw an opening — I had so much confidence in my shot when I hit the first two — once I had openings I knew I could hit it, so I took it right away, and they just kept falling,” Walsh said. “The first two shots I knew I was on for the rest of the game.”
Sophomore guard Jontrel Walker led the Blackhawks with 24 points, matching Walsh 3-pointer for 3-pointer. Senior Juwan Starks scored 12.
“He played pretty good,” Kerkman said of Walker.