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West Aurora aims for consolation title at Pontiac

PONTIAC - Certain boys basketball coaches of the Pontiac Holiday Tournament were incredulous that West Aurora and Oak Park-River Forest were seeded eighth and ninth, respectively, in the field.

"It's crazy," Curie coach Mike Oliver said. "You could put those two teams in any other tournament, and they would be a (No.) 1, 2 or 3 seed."

Playing the finale Thursday night too late to meet the Daily Herald deadline, the game lived up to its billing.

Trailing for virtually the entire game, West Aurora stormed back from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit and had a chance to tie - or take the lead with a 3-point possession - with 14.7 seconds to play.

But West Aurora star guard Marquise Walker had his baseline floater from seven feet fall ever so short.

After OPRF botched the front end of a one-and-one seconds later, a final West Aurora turnover proved fatal in a 60-56 loss.

The Blackhawks had their five-game winning streak snapped in falling to 9-3.

But West Aurora is still alive in the famed tournament as Kelvin Balfour scored 8 straight points bridging the third and fourth quarters in helping lead the team to a 77-60 victory over host Pontiac Friday night in the consolation quarterfinals.

Walker, who was dynamite last year in leading Curie to the Pontiac championship game for Curie, recovered from a sub-par outing against OPRF to lead the Blackhawks with a game-high 21 points against the always dangerous host Indians.

Hezzy Salter continued his workman-like play in the interior for the Blackhawks in scoring 13 points against Pontiac.

Balfour had 12 points as his 8-point personal run was instrumental in the Blackhawks' 13-0 blitz that turned a 47-42 third-quarter cushion into a comfortable win.

"We showed how good we can be as a team (against Pontiac)," said Balfour. "I just felt I could score because (the Pontiac) guards were slow in defending."

"He is always trying to get into the paint," West Aurora coach Brian Johnson said of Balfour.

The other development for West Aurora in its first two games was the unleashing of 6-foot-5 forward Axel Motola.

A native of Mexico, Motola had seen only limited action in the first third of the Blackhawks' season.

But Motola was centrally responsible for the Blackhawks' renaissance against OPRF Thursday night in scoring a team-high 18 points.

"I wanted to play hard to help my team," Motola said of his play against OPRF. "I can do things to help this team."

"(Motola) came into his own this weekend," Johnson said. "He is long, he is fearless, he can handle the ball."

West Aurora (10-3) faces Warren Saturday morning for a berth in the consolation final.

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