St. Charles East nips West Aurora
After misfiring on 10 of his first 14 shots, Justin Hardy received a few words of encouragement from St. Charles East boys basketball coach Patrick Woods.
"I just called him over at one point and said, 'hey, just shoot the ball, man,' " said Woods. "Sure enough, three 3-pointers later - it worked."
Knocking down his third 3-pointer of the second half to tie the game with West Aurora at 46-46 midway through the final period, Hardy's inside bucket off a feed from Zach Robinson with 1:12 remaining gave the Saints their first and only lead of the fourth quarter.
St. Charles East (7-3) withstood a last-ditch possession by the Blackhawks (7-2) to pull out the 52-51 Upstate Eight Conference crossover victory Friday night in St. Charles.
Hardy, who scored a game-high 26 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists, converted 5 of his last 6 shots from the field following the brief "pick-me-up" from his coach.
"Coach just really boosted my confidence there," said Hardy. "I shouldn't need him to tell me to go out there and shoot the ball but it really helped that he had the confidence in me. The next possession actually, I came out and hit a three."
Why the hesitancy to shoot the ball?
"I think I just missed my first couple shots and let it influence how I was looking at the game," said Hardy. "I didn't want to take bad shots for my team. I wanted to put us in a position to win."
Playing without leading scorer Camron Donatlan (family vacation), the Blackhawks had a golden opportunity down the stretch but Traevon Brown's baseline jumper rimmed out with 3 seconds left and Jared Crutcher's offensive rebound as time expired snapped West Aurora's 6-game winning streak.
"We had the ball to win and we got a good look," said Blackhawks coach Brian Johnson. "It just went in and out. It happens but I was encouraged with how hard we played and how we fought.
"Hardy was off in the first half but he hit three big threes. He's a big-time player and that's what big-time players do. I thought for the most part that Jared (Crutcher) did an excellent job on him."
Damian Virgen scored 14 of his team-leading 16 points in the second half for the Blackhawks, while Ben Young added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Crutcher contributed 13 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
Robinson scored 15 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Saints, who now prepare for next week's Hinsdale Central Holiday Tournament.
"It's a quality win," said Woods. "It's another team on our schedule that challenges us and helps make us better - that's what we need.
"I'm happy with our toughness and grittiness that we displayed there at the end."
The Saints overcame poor free-throw shooting (6 of 16), especially in the fourth quarter (1 of 5).
"We've got to be better than 35 percent," said Woods. "It's something we absolutely have to get better at. We're too good of shooters not to shoot well at the line."
West Aurora begins play Thursday at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament.