West Aurora tips Jacobs in 2 OTs
West Aurora sure didn’t mind working a little — or a lot — of overtime this weekend.
A night after beating Wheaton North in overtime, the Blackhawks needed two overtimes Saturday at Batavia’s Night of Hoops to hold off Jacobs 69-61.
“Three overtimes in two nights, maybe we are getting used to it,” West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman said. “The good part is in both ballgames we seemed to play better in overtime.”
The Blackhawks (12-7) led most of the game but never by more than 7 points. Jacobs (12-9) erased a 5-point deficit with two minutes left in regulation.
Nick Hofman and Mike Peterson, who combined for 46 points, both nailed 3-pointers to bring Jacobs within 56-55 with 17 seconds left. West Aurora freshman Jontrel Walker, who had just hit a pair at the line, split 2 free throws, and Matt Ehrhardt sent the game to overtime when he knocked down a 15-foot baseline jumper with 1 second left after Peterson drove the lane and found Ehrhardt.
“I just drove trying to be aggressive,” Peterson said.”They doubled down on me and I just kicked it and Matt made a good shot. It was clutch.”
Each team made just one basket in the first overtime, starting with a floater by Hofman for just Jacobs’ third lead of the game.
Jonathan Dennison delivered the clutch answer for West Aurora, a putback bucket on a fourth-chance opportunity that tied the game at 59 with 40 seconds left.
West Aurora senior Kyle Pilmer drew a charge on Hofman with 9 seconds remaining to give the Blackhawks a chance to win but Juwan Starks misfired on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Brandon Hayes drained a jumper that got West Aurora rolling in the second overtime. Starks drove for a basket, and the Blackhawks added 6 more points at the free-throw line while Jacobs went cold missing their first four shots including three 3-pointers.
“You get tired legs, it’s hard to shoot the 3-pointers accurately,” Kerkman said.
Starks, after scoring 24 points Friday, led the Blackhawks with 19 points. Hayes scored 16 and Kenny Battle Jr. came off the bench to score 11 of his 14 points in the second half.
“The first half I wasn’t finishing as strong as I could and the second half I came out better,” Battle said.
The game was tight throughout. West Aurora blocked 6 shots in the first half — 3 each by Pilmer and Starks — to lead 24-21 at halftime. Both teams scored 15 points in the third quarter before Jacobs outscored West Aurora 21-18 in the fourth for the first double overtime game at Night of Hoops since Simeon and Batavia’s classic in 2007.
“Good game. We put ourselves in position to win but we didn’t finish it off. We didn’t get it done,” said Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle, whose team was outrebounded 43-23 but stayed in it with 7 3-pointers. “We’re not normally a 3-point shooting team. Tonight they took away the lane very well on us.”
Hofman led Jacobs with 24 points and Peterson scored 22 including four 3-pointers, a couple well beyond the 3-point arc.
“It was a tough one, hard to lose in double overtime,” Peterson said. “They are an elite team. This will definitely help us in the end. We almost learn more from a loss than just coming out here and killing a team. We’ll come back strong.”