The high school Winter sports season is slipping away. The first Winter State tournament will be boys bowling January 31-February 1. Fans and players will enjoy the process the rest of the season. There are big games, conference championship showdown games, and shootouts and fests on the horizon.
In boys basketball in Aurora, the built-in main event every year is the struggle between East Aurora and West Aurora. East Aurora rallied to defeat host West Aurora, 51-44, Saturday in a hard-fought defensive battle.
Another crosstown battle will be performed Friday in Aurora, Metea Valley at Waubonsie Valley, both members of the six-team DuPage Valley Conference. Waubonsie Valley has the best record of the boys basketball teams in Aurora.
Waubonsie Valley, through Monday, was 19-2 overall, and will brace for Metea Valley, 8-11. Records do not count in sports rivalries.
“Metea is playing well right now,” Waubonsie head coach Jason Mead said. “They pose problems because they are physical and rebound well. They play a style that is difficult to read. They run numerous defenses.”
Waubonsie Valley has won the last three games. Metea last won January 5, 2018.
Other Aurora boys basketball teams’ records: East Aurora, 12-7; West Aurora, 6-14; Aurora Christian, 11-3; Aurora Central, 8-11; Marmion, 3-14. See thevoice.us/high-school-boys-basketball-selected-mlk-tournament-schedule for the boys basketball standings and for the MLK results Friday through Monday.
Waubonsie Valley was 3-1 in the eight-team Burlington Central MLK games to finish in third place. West Aurora played one game Monday at Geneva and fell to an excellent Stevenson team, 64-30. West Aurora head coach was upbeat after the game against East Aurora Saturday with his young team.
“I was very happy with our effort. We have gotten better as a team defensively. East Aurora is no pushover and can put a lot of offensive pressure on you, especially, when they get out in the open court.”
West Aurora led, 39-35, midway through the fourth quarter. East Aurora scored nine points in a row to take a 44-39 lead.
“East Aurora executed down the stretch, and we didn’t,” Johnson said. “We needed to have strong offensive possessions down the stretch. I thought we forced some unnecessary shots and stopped attacking the basket.”
Waubonsie Valley had two players on the Burlington Central all-tournament team, Ben Schwieger and Marcus Skeete.
Mead was not happy with the first-game defeat at the hands of Lyons. Lyons won, 48-46, Friday.
“We poorly against Lyons. We missed a lot of layups, did not defend the three-point line, and did not have patience running our offense or getting out in transition.
“We played okay in the tournament otherwise.”
There are more shootouts on the horizon. One of the first in the Aurora area is the prestigious Batavia Night of Hoops.
West Aurora will play host Batavia at 7:30 p.m. following three games: Wheaton Warrenville South against DeKalb, 3 p.m.; St. Joseph vs. St. Charles East, 4:30 p.m.; Oswego East vs. Rockford East, 6 p.m.. Wheaton Warrenville South was host to an excellent MLK tournament which was won by York with a championship game victory against Benet Academy, 40-38.
Aurora Central defeated Von Steuben of Chicago, 73-71, at Marshall in Chicago.
Other shootouts on the horizon will be the East Aurora Kivisto Hoopfest. The lineup: Aurora Christian vs. Chicago Lincoln Park, 2:15 p.m.; West Aurora vs. Bolingbrook 3:50p.m.; East Aurora vs. Lake Park, 5:25 p.m. and Yorkville vs. Oswego East, 7 p.m..
The salute to Neal Ormond of West Aurora was incorrectly reported in this space last week. It will take place Friday, Jan. 31 at West Aurora for his Distinguished Media Service Award presented by the Illinois High School Association.
Yorkville will play West Aurora in a Suburban Prairie Conference game to follow the presentation to the radio and television broadcaster for West Aurora since 1964.
That same Friday, Jan. 31, East Aurora will present its Hall of Fame class. East Aurora will play Glenbard East in an important Upstate Conference game. Glenbard East is in first place.
West Aurora’s Brian Johnson is expecting competitive games in the coming weekend against Joliet West at home and Batavia at the Batavia Night of Hoops.
“We need to be focused at both ends of the court. We need to take pride in getting defensive stops and mindful of moving the ball on the offensive end.”
Kelvin Balfour leads West Aurora in scoring with 15.5 points per game. He and Alex Motola each scored 13 points against East Aurora.