Starks scores 26 leading West Aurora to home win

A strong, aggressive inside game almost always trumps talented perimeter shooting.

Friday night's DuPage Valley Conference game between visiting Wheaton North and West Aurora came down to the Falcons' skill at shooting the three-ball, and the Blackhawks' ability to do everything else, along with knocking down a few threes of their own.

In the end, West Aurora's explosive scoring and tough defense made the difference in a 63-47 final.

"West Aurora is a good team," Wheaton North coach Jim Nazos said. "They play hard and disciplined, and tonight they made the plays when they had to."

A few of the Falcons may be seeing Jordan Starks in their nightmares for a while after the West Aurora forward led all scorers with 26 points, many of which came off ferocious drives to the hoop.

"Our typical mindset is to play defense and get out on the shooters," Starks said. "Offense-wise, we were penetrating, and they couldn't stop us so we just kept doing it."

But as merciless as Starks was on both ends of the floor, it was senior floor leader Brandon Hayes who turned a suddenly tight game into a blowout, scoring 10 points in the third quarter.

"Something had to change in the second half," Hayes said. "I'm the emotional leader, so I took it on myself to get us going."

The Blackhawks took a 33-25 lead into the locker room at halftime, but that evaporated in a hurry as the Falcons (4-4, 1-3) went on a 7-0 run to open the third quarter, forcing West Aurora coach Gordon Kerkman to call a timeout.

"We hit a speed bump at the beginning of the third quarter," Kerkman said. "Once we got over that, we tightened up the defense and played more aggressive offensively."

Kerkman's squad responded by scoring the next 11, first behind Kyle Pilmer's play on the inside, and then on Hayes' outside shooting.

"We know Juwan is our main scorer, but on any given night we've got a lot of guys who can get hot," Hayes said.

The game got off to a sloppy start for the Blackhawks, as they turned the ball over three times in the first three minutes.

"I'm always concerned with turnovers," Kerkman said. "That's one of the things that's making us inconsistent."

Jordan Wayhart hit a pair of 3-pointers and Ed Norris added one of his own, as the score remained close.

"We're improving in a lot of ways," Nazos said. "We're a team that's knocking on the door right now."

West Aurora (5-2, 3-0) did a better job of taking care of the ball in the second quarter, while its defense shut down the lane, forcing the Falcons to live on the perimeter.

Wayhart (18 points) hit three more from beyond the arc, but the Blackhawks still managed to build an 8-point cushion at the half.

"When you play Wheaton North you know they're going to shoot the three ball, and they usually have guys who can knock them down," Kerkman said.