Boys Basketball: Jontrell Walker’s jumper lifts West Aurora past WW South

Updated: December 2, 2011 11:18PM

As well as the West Aurora boys basketball team played in the first half of Friday night’s DuPage Valley Conference opener at Wheaton-Warrenville South, it was the complete opposite in the second half.

West Aurora surrendered a 14-point advantage, only surviving 53-51 on sophomore Jontrell Walker’s baseline jumper with 15 seconds left.

“I had missed a couple shots before so I had to step into it in motion and make sure I followed through,” said Walker, who scored 16 points.

The Blackhawks (4-1, 1-0) still had to watch as Tigers’ guard Matt Kienzle’s wide open three-pointer as time expired bounced off the iron.

West scored just 15 points in the second half after scoring 20 alone in the first quarter.

“Second half, we didn’t come with the same intensity we did in the first half,” said Blackhawks guard Juwan Starks, who was lights out for 18 points in the first half but finished with just 20. “We have to get more fouls. They were more aggressive than us. They had more intensity than us.”

Every time it looked like the Blackhawks would pull away early, WW South (1-4, 0-1) came roaring back with a big outside shot.

Danny Roadman, connected on four of his six three-pointers in the first half and finished with 21 points.

“He’s our senior, he’s our leader,” Tigers coach Rob Szorc said. “We’re only going to get better from here on out which is the good thing.”

Kienzle came off the bench to drill three threes and finish with 14 points.

Starks added four steals and eight rebounds for West, while forward Chandler Thomas scored 14 points to go with nine rebounds, but the Blackhawks are aware they need to improve their focus and discipline as the season goes along.

“I think we got very overconfident coming out in the second half,” Blackhawks coach Gordie Kerkman said. “We took some ill-advised shots. We lost our intensity and poise and had to hang on. I feel very fortunate. I don’t know if we deserved to win that one.”

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