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Boys Basketball: East Aurora into the win column with ‘W’ over Manley
| Corey R. Minkanic~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: December 20, 2011 10:26PM
There have been few bright spots for the East Aurora basketball team this season, but Tuesday’s effort at home against Chicago Manley gave the Tomcats reason to smile.
After losing their first nine games of the season, East’s 80-69 victory finally put the Tomcats in the win column and sent them on to their holiday tournament next week on a positive note.
“It is going to make for a good Christmas, the Christmas dinner is going to taste a lot better now,” joked East coach Wendell Jeffries. “We’ve shown steady improvement.”
The Tomcats like to play at an uptempo pace, and they found a willing partner in Manley. But it was the Wildcats who got out to a good start as Javan Linson scored six quick points and put East in a 10-2 hole just three minutes into the game.
East recovered, though, and finished the quarter with a 21-19 lead on a Larry Reynolds layup at the buzzer. The led by as many as 10 (38-28) in the second quarter and led by as many as 13 in the second half.
Reynolds, who missed two games last week because of academic difficulties, sat the first 6½ minutes of the game but provided a huge spark from there. The 6-foot-4 senior matched his jersey number with 23 points, and also checked in with seven rebounds and two blocks.
“We played well (Tuesday), we are getting better,” Reynolds said. “I wanted to play hard for my team and get that win under our belts. I felt after looking at them we could win if we played hard.”
The Tomcats spread the wealth around offensively, as nine players found their way into the scoring column and as a team they shot 28-for-53 (53 percent) from the field. Mike McAllister had what Jeffries called the best game of his varsity career with 18 points and eight assists, while Justin Wilson tossed in 16 points.
East again played without leading scorer DeJon Talbert, who suffered a concussion and has yet to be cleared to play. He is expected to be ready for the tournament opener next week.
Linson led all scorers with 28 points for Manley, while Eddie Miller and Cory Friend tossed in 10 points apiece.
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