West Aurora catches fire at West Chicago
When holding a comfortable 18-point halftime lead, a basketball team's natural tendency might be to relax a little in the third quarter.
Not West Aurora.
The Blackhawks blitzed host West Chicago for 30 points in the third period and led by as many as 32 before settling for a 78-59 Upstate Eight Conference victory on Friday night, which was their 10th straight.
The third-quarter performance was a clinic in team basketball. Eight players scored as the Blackhawks (19-3, 12-0) made 12 of 15 shots from the field and Logan Mont (2), Traevon Brown, Marquise Walker and Nick Williams combined to got 5 for 5 from beyond the 3-point arc. It was Williams' 3 with 50 seconds left in the quarter that gave the Blackhawks their biggest lead at 71-39.
"That was a really good quarter," said Blackhawks coach Brian Johnson. "The ball was really moving around the floor, the ball was falling from the arc - it was unbelievable to see because it's not normal for us. We won't always shoot 3s like that, so it's nice to see them go in."
"They just caught fire, and when everyone on your team is making shots it's contagious," said West Chicago senior forward Isaac Nelson with a what-can-you-do shake of the head. "We just have to keep trying to keep teams from doing that."
It was at the other end of the floor that the Blackhawks set the tone for the game as they forced 10 West Chicago (9-13, 3-9) turnovers in the first quarter in opening up a 16-4 lead. Kelvin Balfour, Marquise Walker and Axel Motola all had 2 steals in the period. The Blackhawks also converted two offensive rebounds into buckets as they appeared to be one step ahead of the Wildcats.
"We picked up the pressure in our 1-2-2 and were able to get some steals and capitalize on them," Johnson said.
"We've got top take care of the ball, the turnovers killed us, the hustle plays, rebounds," Nelson added. "We have to get as many of those kinds of plays as we can; we have to do the little things."
The Wildcats, however, didn't wilt in the face of West Aurora's early assault as Nelson sandwiched a three-point play and a 3-pointer around Sean Ricci's 3-pointer in an 85-second span to cut the gap to 16-13 after one quarter.
When Ricci opened the second quarter with a bucket, it was suddenly a 1-point game, but the Blackhawks responded with 8 straight points from Hezekiah Salter, Balfour and Motola to retake control at 24-15 before steadily building to a 41-23 halftime edge.