Fourth quarter proves costly for West Aurora
Meeting for the fourth time in the last five years in the Class 4A boys basketball postseason, West Aurora and Bolingbrook were engaged in yet another epic showdown before a capacity crowd at the iconic East Aurora gym Tuesday evening.
All square after three frenetic quarters of play, Bolingbrook, the top seed, had too many weapons in its arsenal in ending the Blackhawks' season with a 75-61 victory in the Class 4A sectional semifinal in Aurora.
In the process, the Raiders (22-7), whom West Aurora defeated in the sectional championship last year, ended the fourth-seeded Blackhawks' season at 28-6.
Tied at 46-46 entering the fourth after West Aurora overcame a 10-point early third-quarter deficit, the Raiders outscored the Blackhawks 29-15 in the decisive last eight minutes.
"The fourth quarter was horrible," said West Aurora junior forward Kelvin Balfour, who finished with 17 points. "Everything seemed to slip away from us in a matter of seconds. Before we knew it the game was over."
Bolingbrook scored the first 5 points of the third quarter to double its 32-27 advantage.
But Balfour literally single-handedly erased the Raiders' double-digit cushion.
Following Moshe Rogers' 3-pointer for West Aurora and a split trip to the free-throw line for the Raiders, Balfour scored 11 consecutive points on two 3-pointers, a 3-point play and two free throws to give the Blackhawks a 41-38 lead.
It was the first West Aurora lead since Marquise Walker trumped the opening Bolingbrook field goal of the game with a 3-pointer for the Blackhawks.
"I felt I was open, and my shot kept falling," Balfour said.
"Balfour showed that his potential is through the roof," West Aurora coach Brian Johnson said.
Walker, who hit an astounding 65-five-foot shot to beat the second-quarter buzzer, finished with 20 points for West Aurora to lead the team.
"It gave us a lot of momentum," Walker said. "But we didn't get the 'W,' so the shot really didn't matter. We played our hearts out. We had a fantastic year."
Walker and backcourt mate Traevon Brown gave West Aurora its two final leads of the season early in the fourth quarter.
But Bolingbrook Drake-bound guard Joseph Yesufu, who led both teams with 23 points, triggered a series of devastating mini-runs with his defensive presence to turn the tide.
The Raiders' Darius Burford also burned West Aurora with 20 points from his guard position.
The final West Aurora hope evaporated when Johnson was ejected with back-to-back technical fouls after several point-blank shot attempts by Hezzy Salter (game-high 11 rebounds, 7 points) resulted in a no-call with 1:44 remaining.
Rogers ended his West Aurora career with 11 points on three 3-pointers.