West Aurora hits 100 in win over Streamwood
The points accumulated like the famous Who song about the pinball wizard Friday night in Streamwood.
Keenon Cole, the Northern Illinois University-bound star player the Sabres, pumped in a game-high 40 points.
But the Cole effort was an afterthought as West Aurora downed the Sabres in a hard-to-fathom-high school basketball boys game score of 103-93.
"We gave up 90 points but scored 103," West Aurora star senior guard Marquise Walker said.
Streamwood climbed ever so close to the Upstate Eight Conference-leading Blackhawks in the fourth quarter.
But the Sabres had the misfortune of facing Walker during the final eight minutes of the contest.
Walker drained the epitome of daggers from beyond the 3-point line in scoring a team-best 27 points Friday night.
"I had to knock them down," Walker said.
"I never thought of a West Aurora team scoring that many points," West Aurora coach Brian Johnson said. "I am happy we got the win. That's all I care about right how."
West Aurora never trailed in the high-octane contest.
The Blackhawks scored 30 points in the first quarter alone.
Hezzy Salter matched the Blackhawks' Walker output of 27 points.
The Salter performance was highlighted by a nefarious tip dunk off a Walker miss in the third quarter.
West Aurora seemingly scored at will in building an astonishing 56-45 lead at halftime.
The Blackhawks' starting point guard, Traevon Brown, was masterful in scoring 18 points against the Sabres.
West Aurora breakout junior Kevin Balfour added 16 points as the Blackhawks reached triple figures for the first time since the Kenny Battle era of 1983-84.
But Cole certainly gave the conference leaders all they could handle.
The Streamwood star forward scored in every imaginable fashion.
From throw downs in traffic to jumpers from beyond the arc, Cole was an imposing force in the game.
"Keenon Cole is a great player," Walker said. "He was scoring constantly."
"I had 40 earlier this year," Cole said. "It was my second 40-point game this year. West Aurora is very good in transition. They killed us on the fast break."
Streamwood, which also received double-digit efforts from Nikola Sinik (14 points) and Nick Droll (10), was still in shouting distance with an 84-81 deficit in the fourth quarter,
But Walker found nothing but neylon with 3-pointers moments later.
The Blackhawks' cushion was soon back to double figures as a result.
"I was hoping it would be us," Cole said of the outcome.
The Sabres could not stop the unheralded Salter in the post.
West Aurora scored 77 points in the first three quarters before shading the Sabres 26-25 in the final quarter of the combined 196 points.