By Carter Crane
East Aurora High School’s boys basketball team used hard-working full-court pressure defense to defeat rival West Aurora, 61-50, in Wednesday’s Lockport Sectional semifinal game this week..
“Our defense was important,” East Aurora head coach Rick Robinson said after the game. “I wasn’t going to let Kelvin Balfour beat us. We played defense on him in a platoon system. Our defenders were rested and working to stop him. We played full-court pressure defense.
“Balfour has carried West Aurora the last few months.”
The game was the 229th between the two schools, each with a rich tradition in basketball. West Aurora won its 44th regional championship last week. The Wednesday game was the schools’ fifth meeting in sectional tournament play. West Aurora’s lead in sectional games was trimmed to 3-2 between the two schools.
Balfour, a 6-2 guard with quickness and acceleration, scored 17 points and 6-1 guard Kenny Dyson scored 17 points with outside shooting and free throws.
East Aurora was led in scoring by forward Jacques Kelly with 17 points and Amarion Savage with 15 points.
East Aurora will play No. 1 seeded Joliet West at 7 p.m. Friday in the 17-team Lockport Sectional championship game. Joliet West defeated No. 5 Neuqua Valley, 50-40, Tuesday in a Lockport Sectional semifinal.
“Yes, the East Aurora defense made it difficult for us,” West Aurora head coach Brian Johnson said. “I’m just proud of how hard our players fought and never gave up.”
No. 9 seeded East Aurora defeated No. 7 Oswego East and No. 2 Bolingbrook to advance to the Lockport Sectional. West Aurora was the State’s lowest seeded team to advance to a sectional and defeated No. 3 Waubonsie Valley and No. 11 Plainfield to advance to the sectional tournament.
The game was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 1,800. Tickets were purchased online prior to the gameand fans were turned away at the door if they wanted to buy tickets.
West Aurora scored seven straight points to take a 7-4 lead, which was met by East Aurora’s 13-0 run for a lead East Aurora never surrendered.
Friday’s winner of the East Aurora-Joliet West game will play at Illinois State University in Normal against the winner of the Pekin Sectional game between Collinsville and Normal Community West.
The ISU survivor will play in Peoria at Carver Arena in the State tournament Friday, March 20 against the winner of the Northern Illinois University DeKalb Super-sectional winner. Possible teams to qualify for the DeKalb Super-sectional are Naperville Central and Lake Park, which will meet for the Addison Trail Sectional championship, and St. Charles North or Cary-Grove which will play for the McHenry Sectional championship.