West Aurora, St. Charles North bow out at Pontiac
PONTIAC - The famed Pontiac Holiday Tournament has never experienced two days in its glorious edition like the 85th edition.
On Monday, only two of the eight first-round games were played after an ice storm virtually brought the city to its knees.
West Aurora and Bloom, who both played twice on Tuesday, were forced to spend the night in their hotels with neither electricity nor heat.
"We had a bed to sleep in and warm blankets," West Aurora boys basketball coach Brian Johnson said.
Unfortunately for the Blackhawks and St. Charles North, the two were rudely evicted from the double-elimination field with a combined three losses on Tuesday.
St. Charles was victimized by city power Curie in a lopsided loss on Monday morning.
The North Stars led early against Lockport in their consolation quarterfinal, but the Porters tightened up defensively in the two middle quarters to earn a 57-48 defense.
Griffin Hammer dominated the interior early for the North Stars, and Michael Schroeder did likewise on the perimeter.
The two had 15 and 16 points, respectively, to stake the North Stars to a 16-10 cushion after the first period.
But Lockport (6-4) would outscore St. Charles North, which dropped its fifth straight to fall to 2-7 on the season, 36-16 over the second and third quarters.
"We made too many mistakes to beat a good team," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. "We're playing too far away from the rim."
The North Stars' reliance on perimeter shooting was more than evidenced by their shooting from beyond the arc.
Other than the three 3-pointers Schroeder converted, the remainder of the team was 1-for-16.
Hammer, however, did make his only attempt.
Poulin took a philosophical approach to the North Stars' abbreviated stay in central Illinois.
"It's the worst start in school history," Poulin said. "But as always, we appreciate the opportunity (to come here)."
Matt Smietanski had 16 points to lead Lockport.
West Aurora, meanwhile, had its first-round game against defending champion Simeon delayed by 75 minutes when Bloom and Bloomington were victimized by another power shortage.
The Blackhawks answered the Wolverines' 9-0 game-opening run with a similar burst to forge the only tie of the game.
But Simeon would have three unanswered scoring runs of 30 combined points to more or less account for the final score of 64-30 in the Wolverines favor.
"They're one of the best teams in the nation," Johnson said of Simeon. "You have to be almost perfect; they're going to get on every mistake."
Simeon had four players in double figures, but the Blackhawks' Caleb Siler led all players with 12 points.
The Blackhawks' loss to Bloom proved even more vexing.
Junior forward DaQuan Cross scored 12 points - all in the first half - and reserve Ben Young hit two late second-quarter 3-pointers to stake West Aurora to a 28-19 lead at the break
"I was trying to stay down here," Cross said. "I wish we would have gone farther."
But it was not to be as Jamal Parks' monstrous second-half propelled the Trojans to a 56-46 victory.
Parks scored 19 of his 31 points in the third quarter as his personal 6-point run to end the period provided the Trojans (4-6) with a 56-46 victory.
West Aurora is 3-7 after its pair of losses on Tuesday.
Camron Donatlan had 16 points for the Blackhawks.