West Aurora's press rattles South Elgin
The West Aurora boys basketball team sprung a late trap on host South Elgin in a 65-61 Upstate Eight Conference win on Tuesday.
Several of them, actually.
After West Aurora point guard Trae Brown tied the score 52-52 with 4:45 left in an early showdown between UEC co-leaders, the Blackhawks set up a full-court press that turned the tide in their favor.
West Aurora (8-2, 5-0) caused 4 turnovers in the next 5 South Elgin possessions and Brown capitalized in between by scoring 3 more baskets, including a 3-pointer with 2:42 left that gave the Blackhawks a 61-54 lead.
"That pressure was pure heart," Brown said. "We never did a trap like that. Everyone was scrambling. Everybody was confused. We were just trying to get the ball and it worked out somehow."
West Aurora coach Brian Johnson credited 6-foot-4 junior Dimitrios Bazos for his contributions on both ends during a 13-2 run over 2:18 that decided the game's outcome. He came off the bench to cause 2 steals and scored 2 fourth-quarter buckets.
"He really brought in a ton of energy," Johnson said. "We were going to send him at the ball, make the game go a little faster and take advantage of some turnovers."
South Elgin was led by a career-high 30 points from 6-foot-3 senior guard Drake Montgomery. The West Aurora press was designed, in part, to slow his roll. Montgomery shot 11 of 18 from field, 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
"We were supposed to run at (Montgomery) as soon as he gets the ball away," Bazos said. "Then trap it or find the scramble, either or. See where the open man is and rotate."
"They shocked us," Montgomery said. "They came out and trapped us and we didn't know how to respond. We didn't know how to make the right pass and make the right reads. They did a good job trapping us and executing."
West Aurora grabbed a 17-8 lead after a quarter but the Storm caught up in the third quarter as Montgomery scored 9 points.
South Elgin took its biggest lead at 49-44 when Montgomery backed his defender up in the post, turned and scored with 7:25 left in the game.
The Storm made 9 of 18 attempts from 3-point range over the first three quarters but missed 2 fourth-quarter attempts.
Senior Moshe Rogers made South Elgin senior Vincent Miszkiewicz work for his 11 points. Miszkiewicz grabbed a game-best 13 rebounds. Rogers pulled down 7.
The victory puts the Blackhawks in the UEC driver's seat in the season's early stages.
"That puts them in a pressure position to want us to lose instead of us wanting them to lose," Brown said.