If Aurora isn’t the best basketball city in the area surrounding Chicago, it’s certainly in the top five.
Both of the city’s public high schools, West and East Aurora, have historic programs and lovingly maintained, large gyms that were built for basketball fans. But it’s been a while since either team was in the upper echelon of the rankings and there hasn’t been a ton of excitement around either team since Ryan Boatright was a Tomcat back in 2011.
Mike Fowler, a member of West Aurora’s state championship team in 2000, took over as the Blackhawks’ new coach this season. This year’s group is unlikely to achieve those same heights, but it is a fun team with some swagger that has started to play lockdown defense. They could help reinvigorate the town’s ravenous high school basketball core.
West Aurora held Oswego East, the team that has dominated the Southwest Prairie for the past several seasons, scoreless for six-minute and four-and-a-half-minute stretches on the way to a 69-51 victory against the visiting Wolves on Tuesday.
“We work on defense a lot in practice,” junior Terrence Smith said. “We really take pride in our defense this year. It’s something we really want to be good at.”
Smith, a 6-4 junior, led the Blackhawks (5-2, 3-0 Southwest Prairie West) with 22 points and five rebounds. He’s an elite athlete who has a major college future in either basketball or football. Smith threw down three dunks in the game.
Point guard CJ Savage (10 points, five assists) is the heart of the team. He’s one of the area’s best passers and was the players that stepped up after Fowler called a timeout in the fourth quarter when Oswego East was charging back into the game and had cut West Aurora’s lead to 53-41.
“[Savage] is a really good point guard,” Smith said. “He’s one of a kind.”
Savage attacked the basket for a three-point play right out of the timeout. Wolves star Jehvion Starwood, a Wyoming recruit, fouled out on the next possession and that ended the threat.
“That was probably one of the biggest plays of the game,” Savage said. “I had to keep the energy going for my team.”
West Aurora junior Kewon Marshall had 12 points, five rebounds and back-to-back dunks to close the game. Gabriel Gonzales, a 6-7 junior, added nine points off the bench, and senior Jordan Brooks scored 14.
“We pulled off [some defense] in the last game too,” Fowler said. “I want to say we only gave up four in the second quarter and seven in the fourth. I don’t expect that to happen but that is their effort. They are locking in and they understand they can be special.”
Starwood led Oswego East (5-3, 2-1) with 21 points. He scored the first 13 points of the game for the Wolves. Sophomore Mason Lockett hit a shot right before the halftime buzzer. It was the only field goal of the first half the Wolves managed that wasn’t from Starwood.
Oswego East beat West Aurora 68-56 in the first week of the season. The Wolves returned just one starter this year, Starwood, from last year’s sectional championship team.
“We are at home and we had to get the energy going,” Fowler said. “Kudos to my boys. They work their butts off.”
