West Aurora goes cold late, loses to Naperville North

Renoir or Picasso were nowhere to be found, but Naperville North found a way in the end.

Naperville North shut down West Aurora for the final 5 minutes and 31 seconds of its DuPage Valley Conference boys basketball game Tuesday night on the road, sweeping the Blackhawks in the season series for the first time since 1997-98 with a 34-31 victory.

Statistical abnormalities are becoming commonplace at West Aurora home league games, and the trend continued as the teams struggled mightily all evening.

Naperville North, which improved to 15-5 overall, 5-4 in league play, scored the opening bucket of the game on a Matt Hasse putback.

The Huskies would not lead again until Hasse scored from the left elbow with 2:29 remaining to give Naperville North a 32-31 lead.

Over the next several possessions, there were squandered chances aplenty on both sides.

But Naperville North forced a pair of West Aurora (8-11, 3-6) misfires in the final 10 seconds; Matt Bushman converted free throws to provide the final margin as a desperation West Aurora 3-pointer missed badly at the buzzer.

The Blackhawks did not attempt a single free throw in the game.

"I think our kids did a great job closing out," Naperville North coach Jeff Powers said. "We blew up the ball screens (down the stretch)."

To further illustrate the statistical oddities, neither team had a player in double figures.

West Aurora junior post Kyle Pilmer and senior guard D.J. Vaughn led both teams with 8 points; Naperville North had three players - Hasse, James O'Shaughnessy and Joe McNicholas - score 7 points.

But the Naperville North triumvirate dictated the play all night in the paint.

West Aurora forced 15 first-half turnovers, only to miss several golden opportunities with short misses in transition.

The Huskies, meanwhile, overcame their ball-handling mistakes with a 20-6 plurality on the glass in the opening half, which ended with West Aurora holding a 16-13 lead.

"I was talking to one of the refs and telling him that this was one of the lowest (scoring) games I've ever been in," Hasse said. "James O'Shaughnessy did a great job for us (on defense). It was a great defensive game on both ends. We kept fighting the whole game."

West Aurora purposely milked the clocked repeatedly, but Naperville North found a way to frustrate its offensive game plan.

"We were trying to be patient and get good shots," said West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman. "We couldn't put the ball in the basket. They hurt us on the boards; there's no question about that."

Naperville North ended up with a 40-17 advantage in rebounds.