Boys Basketball: West Aurora’s fast start beats Naperville Central

Updated: January 31, 2012 10:28PM

The old expression says you can’t go home again.

Amid the start to the season’s stretch run for Naperville Central, Tuesday night’s tilt against West Aurora marked its first home game in almost two months while also providing an opportunity to gain some much needed momentum.

Putting that theory to the test, the good vibes didn’t last very long as West Aurora earned a 75-40 victory.

Entering play Tuesday night a half-game behind both Glenbard North and Naperville North in the DuPage Valley Conference, the Blackhawks kept pace behind senior forward Juwan Starks.

Responding from scoring a season-low 42 points in its win over Wheaton Warrenville South last Friday, West Aurora (16-3, 7-1 DuPage Valley) came out firing.

A 9-0 blitz to start the game, highlighted by two Starks’ three-pointers, was just the start for the Blackhawks, who were up 26-6 after one and 46-11 at halftime.

Starks, who had a game-high 28 points in the Blackhawks’ visit to Naperville Central last year, put his seven-point effort against the Tigers last weekend in the rearview mirror by tallying all of his game-high 21 points in the first half.

All told, West Aurora connected on eight three-pointers in the first half, four coming from Starks, as it shot 17-of-23 in the first half.

“(We) came out fired up, anxious to play because the sophomores went to triple overtime,” Starks said. “So we just really wanted to play and got there and did what we had to do.”

Starks left the game late in the third with an ankle injury after missing a straightaway three-pointer and didn’t return to the game.

West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman said he’s unsure about Starks’ status for Friday against Glenbard North, but Starks indicated he’s fine.

In the midst of playing on their home floor for the first time in 59 days, atonement was also the singular focus on the Redhawks’ minds.

Three days removed from scoring a season-low 38 points in last Saturday’s loss to Dubuque (Iowa) Senior High School, Naperville Central (12-8, 4-5 DuPage Valley) struggled mightily in its homecoming in getting down by as many as 40 points in the second half.

Bryce Kirk led the Redhawks with eight points. 

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.