Aurora Christian runs past Aurora Central Catholic
Daniel Walker is starting to feel right at home at his new school - Aurora Christian.
Walker, who transferred from Bolingbrook last year just prior to his sophomore campaign, scored a game-high 17 points during the Eagles' 79-44 victory over Metro Suburban Blue rival Aurora Central Catholic Friday night at Aurora Christian.
After taking a 13-7 first-quarter lead, Aurora Christian (14-4, 5-1) went on a 9-0 run that included back-to-back inside baskets from Jabari Sisco (15 points, 9 rebounds) and a second-chance bucket by Michael Woodfork to stretch the margin to 24-9 midway through the second quarter.
The Chargers (9-15, 1-5) scored the next 9 points to pull within 24-18 following a 3-pointer by Dylan Bryant (16 points, 9 rebounds) and Donovan Grunloh's layup with 3:26 left before halftime.
From there, however, the Eagles closed out the half on a 13-6 run to extend their lead to 37-24 at the intermission.
Walker and Sisco, both sophomores, each had 11 first-half points.
"We felt it right from the start," said Walker. "We had to go hard and take it personally."
Eagles coach Dan Beebe was pleased with his team's high energy right from the get-go.
"Any time you have a crosstown rival, you're going to have energy on both sides of the ball for both teams," said Beebe. "We came out pretty ready to play."
The Eagles continued their momentum into the second half, as they outscored the Chargers 20-8 in the third quarter to make it 57-32 heading into the final period.
Senior guard Taaj Davis scored 10 of his 16 points in the third quarter for the Eagles, while Walker added 6 more points, including his own putback at the buzzer.
"That's my work - getting offensive rebounds and helping the team," said Walker. "Anything I can do for the team."
Despite a tough shooting night (5 of 19 from the field), Davis added 5 steals, 5 assists and 5 rebounds.
"Taaj was off tonight so we were trying to help him," said Walker.
"Taaj wasn't his normal self - he's going to get a lot of attention," said Beebe. "Guys like Daniel Walker, Danny New and Jabari Sisco - all the sophomores are starting to come of age a little bit, and some of the other kids are getting more minutes and playing more together."
Another sophomore, Drew Meyers, added 10 fourth-quarter points, including a pair of steal/reverse layups during a frenetic 12-second span late in the contest.
"That's Drew's first varsity game," said Beebe. "He's going to be a nice player for us."
Junior reserve Antonio Cianferri added 7 points for the Chargers, who committed 10 of their 26 turnovers in the third quarter.
"We turned it over too much and gave away too many offensive rebounds," said Chargers coach Nathan Drye. "I liked our defensive effort, but we could never secure the rebounds."