West Aurora survives Naperville North in OT

Marquis Howard and Tyler Bushman engaged in a 10-second game of one-upmanship on Wednesday night in Aurora.

Howard, the West Aurora senior guard, had not scored in the teams' Class 4A regional semifinal until his 23-foot set shot with 10 seconds to play gave the Blackhawks a 2-point lead.

Not to be undone, with Naperville North in desperation mode, Bushman tipped in a missed Baylor Griffin baseline jumper as time expired to force overtime.

Howard connected on the Blackhawks' opening possession of overtime with an improbable banked-in 3-pointer.

West Aurora never trailed again in advancing to its regional championship game with a hard-fought 49-42 victory.

The Blackhawks (19-8), the sixth seed of the East Aurora sectional, will face another former DuPage Valley Conference rival in No. 3 Wheaton North.

Naperville North ended its campaign at 17-11.

West Aurora inbounded the ball, trailing 38-37, with 18.4 seconds to play.

"The set play was get something going to the basket and drive and kick," Howard said. "I didn't want to shoot too early, but I had confidence I could knock the shot down."

Bushman did not have much time to think.

"There was 18 seconds left and all we were thinking about was defense, defense, defense," Bushman said. "After Howard hit the 3-pointer, all I thought about was get to the other end of the court."

Howard nearly stole the Huskies' post pass, but Bushman made a critical adjustment.

"There was nobody on my side (the weak side) to box me out," Bushman said.

But the extra four minutes was all West Aurora as Griffin had a driving layup for the Huskies' only points of overtime.

Each team had squandered opportunities after Naperville North overcame a 2-for-13 first-quarter shooting performance.

West Aurora led 19-5 early in second quarter.

"Then we turned the ball over three straight times," West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman said.

The Huskies reduced their deficit to 26-18 by halftime and took its first lead of the game late in the third quarter.

West Aurora senior Roland Griffin had a tip-in with a second to go in the third to forge the first tie of the night at 31-31.

The Blackhawks had a 37-34 lead late, but Bushman had a reverse layup to give Naperville North its last lead until the duel in the waning seconds between Howard and the latter.

"I think (our) defense did it," Kerkman said.

Tommy Koth led three West Aurora starters in double figures with a game-high 17 points.

Matt Dunn and Griffin had 11 each for the Blackhawks.

Griffin and Bushman paced Naperville North with 9 and 8 points, respectively.