West Aurora tops Glenbard East
Given the makeup of West Aurora's varsity roster, basically every Blackhawks boys basketball game is junior or sophomore night.
Friday, though, was officially senior night at Gordon Kerkman Gymnasium in Aurora. As the retired namesake watched from the balcony, coach Brian Johnson's Blackhawks saluted seniors Sam Kolb, Jordan Pitts and Jalen Clark with one of their best wins this season, 73-60 over Glenbard East.
"I think it was pretty good," said sophomore guard Camron Donatlan, who scored 16 points with 14 rebounds. "They earned it. They work hard every day in practice. They deserve it."
Glenbard East (15-12, 6-3) entered Friday tied for the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division lead with West Chicago and was fortunate because East Aurora beat the Wildcats 63-61.
Each with one Valley game left Glenbard East and West Chicago hold a one-game edge on Bartlett and West Aurora (8-16, 5-4).
"We've just got to keep on fighting hard. We've got to come back stronger for East Aurora, we've got them next," said Glenbard East guard Terrence Lakes, who had 7 steals and led the Rams with 18 points to 16 for Mike Finley and 10 for Zach Walsh. West Aurora riddled Glenbard East's 1-2-2 zone for 26 of 38 field goal shooting. Junior forward Caleb Siler scored a team-high 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting and Travon Avery added 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting.
"We got the ball moving a lot, got everybody involved," Donatlan said.
Glenbard East allows 55 points on average so 73 didn't sit well with coach Scott Miller. Neither did 20 of 36 free-throw shooting, including 9 of 17 in the fourth quarter. From the floor the Rams made 8 of 13 first-quarter shots, but 9 of 30 thereafter.
"I just thought our physicality (lacked) - with cutters, on the glass, challenging shots, those kind of things. Too many open looks, and that's not the way we play defense at here Glenbard East," Miller said.
Glenbard East led 19-14 after one quarter. West Aurora took its first lead, 27-24, with three minutes left in the second quarter and led at halftime 34-29.
Featuring a slashing Finley, Glenbard East tied at 36 and again at 39. Donatlan made his lone 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 Blackhawks run to enter the fourth leading 46-39.
Glenbard East was within 47-44 with 5:51 to play when Kolb hit a 3 from the right wing. Scoring 27 fourth-quarter points while Glenbard East endured free-throw trouble, West Aurora never trailed again.
"We had a big win against DeKalb in December, and this win's as big as they come for us - and it's nice to get it on our home floor on senior night," Johnson said.