Waubonsie Valley handles Wheaton North

There's something about East Aurora that brings out the best in Waubonsie Valley.

"I like their rims," said Warriors center Roy McElroy.

They liked him right back. Led by McElroy's 16 points and 6 rebounds and Jelani Johnson's 25 points and 10 rebounds, No. 12 seed Waubonsie Valley beat No. 21 Wheaton North 68-46 in a Class 4A East Aurora regional quarterfinal.

Behind a dominant first quarter in which Waubonsie Valley (14-13) collected 10 offensive rebounds and led 22-6, the Warriors outrebounded Wheaton North 49-21 on the night, snagging 22 offensive boards alone.

Warriors coach Steve Weemer said, "We put on the board three things: Defend, rebound and have some intensity. And I felt like we did that tonight."

Johnson scored 11 first-quarter points and Waubonsie got dividends off the bench from McElroy, banger Geremie Savoy and guard Steve Strickland to quickly put Wheaton North on the defensive.

"Our approach was to keep them off the offensive boards, because our coach (Jim Nazos) told us that if we don't box out we won't win," said Falcons forward Zach Dungee. "We didn't box out, so..."

So, Wheaton North (7-19) kicked into 3-point shooting mode led by Matt Matosian and Dungee, who scored a respective 14 and 9 points. The Falcons hit 10 of 23 from the arc.

Down 32-15 at halftime, Wheaton North made a move. Matosian hit two 3s with hands in his face, then he and Richard Finley scored on putbacks to trim Waubonsie's lead to 39-27.

Weemer took time, then McElroy grabbed an offensive board and put it back in. Strickland hit a free throw, and McElroy was fouled converting Tyler Castro's inbounds pass, then hit the foul shot.

"I wanted to be as aggressive as I can because this could be my last game. I didn't want to go out with any regrets," said McElroy, a senior.

Matosian canned another free throw to send it into the fourth Waubonsie up 45-30.

"We just couldn't get all the way back," Nazos said. "Buried too much too quick."

The teams traded baskets early in the fourth quarter. That wasn't good enough for Wheaton North, which again came up on the wrong end of a 12-3 rebounding mismatch for the quarter.

"We just had to come out with high intensity," Johnson said. "And also this is our favorite gym to play in."