West Aurora comes back to beat Bartlett
It was far from a time-honored recipe for success at a high school boys basketball game Friday night in Aurora.
West Aurora was outscored 27-3 from beyond the 3-point arc and made but 30 percent of its free throws in Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division action against Bartlett.
The one-time double-digit Bartlett second-half deficit was trimmed to a mere possession with 10 seconds left in the game.
But West Aurora junior DaQuan Cross' steal and feed to Caleb Siler for an uncontested layup at the buzzer accentuated the Blackhawks' 56-51 victory.
The defining sequence of the game came in last 10-plus minutes before halftime. Bartlett (12-9, 2-3) could not have scripted a better start as Robby Jimenez, Jason Hasenberg and Benjamin Reyes opened the game by hitting four combined 3-pointers.
As a result, the Hawks had an 18-6 lead midway through the first quarter.
"We just manned up on (Bartlett) and said (collectively), 'We're not going to let my man score,' " Cross said. "That's what we did."
After the early Bartlett haymaker, it was all West Aurora for the remainder of the half.
The Blackhawks (5-12, 2-3) allowed but 4 points by the Hawks the remainder of the opening half while outscoring them at the ratio of 6-1. Cross was 5-for-6 in the first half as part of his 16-point night for West Aurora.
"I didn't want (Bartlett) to carry that (early momentum)," Cross said.
Other than postseason promotions last year, Camron Donatlan is the only returning veteran for the reigning Elite Eight Blackhawks. The sophomore continued his electrifying play against Bartlett Friday night, showcasing his athleticism with critical field goals, blocked shots, key rebounds and active hands in the paint.
"We played hard on defense," said Donatlan, who scored a game-high 19 points to augment 3 second-quarter blocks and an equal number of steals. "We closed out hard. We knew they were good 3-point shooters."
The Bartlett dozen-point lead in the first quarter turned into a mirage as halftime approached; the Blackhawks scored the last 6 points of the opening quarter and enjoyed an 18-4 cushion in the second quarter.
Bartlett would never lead again after West Aurora used its explosive second quarter to take a 30-22 advantage into the intermission.
"We got lackadaisical and figured we were going to shoot all game long like (the opening minutes)," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "We came out like I wanted us to play, and it seemed to me that we settled (into thinking) the rest of the game was going to be this way as well. I thought we played too passive."
Jimenez drained four of the Hawks' nine 3-pointers to lead the squad with 18 points.