Walker scores 27 in West Aurora debut

The West Aurora boys basketball preseason scouting report came to fruition Monday night at Oswego.

The perennial state powerhouse has a dynamite starting backcourt.

Marquise Walker hit back-to-back 3-poiners in his first time in a West Aurora uniform against Neuqua Valley in the Hoops for Happening Thanksgiving Tournament in the opening minutes.

Pumping in 17 of his game-high 27 points in the first half, Walker, a transfer from Curie, paced the Blackhawks to a 65-56 victory over the Wildcats in the schools' season opener.

Walker has a new partner in crime in silky smooth four-year starting point guard Traevon Brown.

"They played like they were seniors tonight," West Aurora coach Brian Johnson said of his starting backcourt.

"I was comfortable from the start," said Walker, one of the top off-guards in the state. "It has felt like that ever since I got here - the players, the coaches. (Brown and I) are trying to get this team downstate. The points don't matter as long as we can get the 'W.'"

Walker was an unstoppable force as the Blackhawks scored 28 of the first 40 points of the contest.

Neuqua Valley (0-1), which received a team-high 16 points from Connor Davis, never came closer than 7 points against West Aurora after the first quarter.

Brown, who began his career at the Blackhawks' archrival East Aurora, repeatedly broke down the Neuqua Valley defense with his exquisite ball-handling skills in complementing Walker with 16 points and 3 assists.

"We both have knock-down jumpers," Brown said of his new teammate. "The attitude is that we can do this against anybody."

Losing four starters from a Class 4A supersectional team to graduation, West Aurora (1-0) displayed its legendary trademarks of using unselfish play and contributions from its moved-up sophomore team members from the previous season.

West Aurora junior Kelvin Balfour epitomized the latter with 8 points and an equal number of rebounds.

The Blackhawks' Hezzy Salter had a game-high 10 rebounds.

"That's a loss for us," said Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton, the only coach in program history, on the Wildcats' 36-34 deficit to West Aurora on the glass. "We pride ourselves on owning the boards. We didn't make enough plays, but we made some good plays."

A unique element of basketball is the terminology that its devotees employ; they do not require subtitles.

It was truly the season opener in Oswego as there were utter some utter "bricks" from the free-throw line.

"We have to work on that," Johnson said after West Aurora went 23-for-42 from the line. "We can't miss 20 free throws in a game."