The high school boys basketball season has passed the halfway position. Teams are beginning to shift into higher gears with the regional, then sectional, and State tournaments on the horizon. Many teams find the many games in the Martin Luther King, Jr. games last weekend through Monday beneficial. Special games will continue with the Sylvia and Jim Roberts games in Batavia, When Sides Collide at Glenbard East, and the crescendo of conference games which will end in determining conference champions. The Kivisto games will be at East Aurora Saturday Feb. 2, one day following the East-West game in Aurora at West Aurora High School.
West Aurora High School moved into the top 25 ranking for the first time this season in the Chicago Sun-Times and through last weekend held a record of 18-3. Waubonsie Valley (see page 10) has sneaked up quietly and taken an 18-2 overall record. Waubonsie Valley will play a showdown game at home Friday against Naperville North, co-leader in the DuPage Valley Conference. The assignments to sectional and regional tournaments were released prior to the Christmas tournaments. See below for information.
Meanwhile, Brian Johnson head coach of West Aurora does not want to look ahead to the February 1 game with visiting East Aurora. In the coming weekend, the Blackhawks will play an Upstate Eight Conference game against West Chicago and a game against St. Charles East at the four-game Batavia extravaganza.
“Both teams are well coached and will be tough to beat,” Johnson said. West Chicago (8-13, 2-9) has a few solid playmakers. Their senior core has been playing together for the last three years and they feed off of each other well. It is always hard to play on the road and they will make you work on the defensive end of the floor.
“St. Charles East (11-9, 4-3 in the DuKane), has played an extremely tough schedule this year. Their record is no indication of how good they really are. They run great offensive actions and have multiple weapons that can hurt you all over the court.”
How has West Aurora improved since December?
“We are playing much better on the defensive end of the court. Our intensity and communication has improved. On offense, we have been playing more together and not so dependent on just a few players to carry us.”
• East Aurora has improved to 7-14 overall and 5-5 in the Upstate Eight and in fourth place behind West Aurora, South Elgin, and Glenbard South. See page 12 for various boys high school standings.
Head coach Rick Robinson has depended on 6-5 guard/forward Jules Williamson who will enter the Thursday, Jan. 24 game at Glenbard East only 10 points away from scoring 1,000 points. He scored 31 points against West Aurora in December 2018 and surpassed with 32 points against Bolingbrook, 38 points against Marmion Academy, 32 points against Joliet Catholic, and his season’s best 39 points against West Chicago. Williamson has averaged 24.5 points this season in a total of 417 points. He scored 336 points last season.
• The Little Ten Conference’s annual tournament will run January 28-29, 31-February 1 Somonauk High School. Newark is seeded No. 1 and followed by Indian Creek, Serena, and Somonauk. Earlville and Leland, which had combined in recent years, has split to provide nine teams in the wake of Paw Paw’s vote to close the high school.
• Non-conference special occasion will be Yorkville at Oswego Saturday evening for both boys and girls varsity, sophomores, and other underclass in an evening to raise cancer awareness and funds for cancer.
• The MLK games at Timothy Christian in Elmhurst, which organizers seek to make an annual event, brought together the Davidson family and four good basketball games. Parkview Christian, led by patriarch Don Davidson fell to Hope Academy of Chicago, 62-41; Aurora Christian, led by head coach Dan Beebe, defeated host Timothy Christian, 68-43, the latter led by superintendent Matt Davidson. His brother, Marc Davidson brought his Blackhawk Christian school from Ft. Wayne, Ind. and beat last season’s Illinois Class 2A state champion, Chicago Orr, 80-78. Marian Catholic, a top Chicago area team defeated Naperville North, 60-46.
• East Aurora will be host to a Class 4A sectional this year and take champions from regional sites at Oswego, Bolingbrook, Joliet West, and Andrew. The East Aurora Sectional champion will play at Illinois State University at Normal against the East Moline United Sectional champion.
• Regional champions at Metea Valley, DeKalb, Downers Grove South, and Glenbard West will go to the Bartlett Sectional.
• Other 4A regional tournaments will be at York, Fenwick, St. Charles East, South Elgin, and Fenwick. One of four super-sectionals will be in DeKalb.