West Aurora dominates St. Charles East

After Justin Hardy scored 16 of St. Charles East's 20 first-half points at West Aurora Friday night, Blackhawks coach Brian Johnson delivered a pretty simple halftime message.

"He said we have to dig down on defense and stop Justin," said West Aurora junior Camron Donatlan, adding he has been playing against Hardy since sixth grade. "If we take him out of the game they are not that much of a good team."

West Aurora (4-1) followed that formula to perfection, holding Hardy to 6 points in the second half. The Blackhawks opened the third quarter on a 12-1 run, turning the 21-20 halftime lead into a convincing 57-40 victory over the previously unbeaten Saints.

"We picked up our defensive intensity," Johnson said. "We got a handle on how the game was being called and how we were going to have to defend. It's always good to play on your home floor. If that's at St. Charles East those shots they were missing are probably going in a little more."

The game began with Hardy and Donatlan in a duel. Nobody else on either team scored until 1:45 remained in the first quarter.

While Hardy scored all 10 of the Saints' first-quarter points, the Blackhawks took a 12-10 lead on Jared Crutcher's basket, then Donatlan opened the second quarter with a 3.

Donatlan dazzled with 23 points, 12 rebounds and 6 steals.

"What's amazing is his maturity," Johnson said. "He has been really, really focused. He had his best week of practice since I've been here. He's starting to figure out what he needs to do for us to be successful."

Led by Donatlan, the Blackhawks outrebounded the Saints 37-26. They also committed fewer turnovers (18-12) while shooting better, 37.2 percent (19 of 51) to the Saints' 33 percent (12 of 36).

Normally a strong outside shooting team, the Saints made just two 3-pointers.

"We missed a lot of shots around the basket because we weren't focused," Saints coach Pat Woods said. "I didn't think we were tough enough tonight. And then we were sloppy with the ball. You add being sloppy with the ball, not making free throws (14 of 24) and then the final straw is the rebound total. We got murdered on the boards. It's a recipe for disaster against a team like this."

During the game-deciding run to start the second half, Benjamin Young sank a pair of 3-pointers, the second leading to a Woods timeout with 4:11 left in the third quarter.

Zach Mitchell scored 7 of his 9 points in the second half, yet the Saints never got closer than 44-35 midway through the fourth quarter on Hardy's 3-point-play.

"We beat ourselves tonight, not to discredit West Aurora, they are a very good team," Woods said. "We were not that team that beat St. Joes. We were an immature team tonight on the road for the first time and sloppy. We have a lot of growing to do. We only had three people score a basket and that's not how we operate. We're looking for people to step up and take advantage of their opportunities."

St. Charles East (4-1) will try to bounce back Saturday night against St. Charles North.