West Aurora hits busy stretch of schedule

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West Aurora's Josh McAuley scores over the Naperville Central defense during a Jan. 31 game. | Terence Guider-Shaw~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 4, 2012 8:17AM

Successful basketball is all about rhythm and flow, be it within the game or within a season.

Cram several games in a short span of time and coaches will bemoan their team’s lack of preparation time. Have too much time between games due to something like weather postponements, and the same coach will worry about his team developing rust or losing focus because practices become stale.

Veteran West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman dealt with the latter recently, and noticed it seemed to bring out the best and worst in his Blackhawks.

After beating Lockport 69-67 in double overtime on Jan. 14 in a nonconference Saturday game, West went 12 days without playing. That’s because their Jan. 20 DuPage Valley Conference game at home against Glenbard East was postponed by a snowstorm.

The Blackhawks came back on Jan. 27 and had a stinker, shooting poorly but managing to hold off Wheaton Warrenville South 42-38.

“We came out and did not play very well against them, even though we had a tremendous practice the day before,” said Kerkman.

The team’s next game was four days later (Jan. 31) at Naperville Central, meaning the Blackhawks had played just one game in 16 days.

“We played extremely well,” said Kerkman of his team’s 75-40 victory over the Redhawks. “It was probably our best game of the year and probably the best defense we’ve played all year.”

Leading scorer Juwan Starks sprained an ankle at Central but Kerkman thinks he’ll be ready when West resumes tonight at home against Glenbard North. Both teams are tied in the loss column for the DVC lead with Naperville North. All have one loss each.

“But we’re a half-game behind because we have that one game to make up (next Wednesday),” said Kerkman, whose team is now in the midst of an 11-day stretch where they play five times.

It will be interesting to see if they stay in rhythm.

Batavia Night of Hoops

The Blackhawks play again Saturday in the final game of the tripleheader at the Batavia Night of Hoops.

Coach Jim Roberts again has an outstanding lineup of games that will begin at 4:30 p.m. with Benet Academy playing Wheaton North. At 6 p.m., St. Joseph Westchester takes on Peoria Central.

In between games, Roberts is planning to honor retired Beacon-News sports editor Bill Kindt for his contributions to high school basketball in the Fox Valley.

The host Bulldogs and Blackhawks will square off at about 7:30 p.m.

“I remember the night (Batavia) played that Proviso East team with Dee and Shannon Brown and gave them all they could handle,” said Kerkman, ever wary of the four-win Bulldogs. “This is the fifth or sixth time we’ve been in the shootout and the third time we’ve played Batavia.”

Back-to-back?

Can Kaneland and third-year coach Brian Johnson repeat as conference champs? It’s too soon to tell, but they’re in a battle.

The Knights, who play host to Sycamore on Saturday with a 4:30 tip-off, are tied for first in the Northern Illinois Big 12 East at 4-2 with both Rochelle and DeKalb. Trailing one game back are Yorkville and Morris at 3-3 each.

“We can’t afford to relax in our league,” Johnson said. “The nice thing with that many teams involved it’s easy to stay focused on each game. Usually, if a team is running away with the title, that doesn’t happen. Each game is huge.”

The Knights have games with Yorkville, DeKalb and Rochelle (in the season finale at home).

Last year, Kaneland edged the Hubs on the road in the final game and won its first league title in 29 years.

“Us, DeKalb and Rochelle all play each other once, so we hold our fate in our own hands,” Johnson said. “We had a bit of a lull right after Christmas, but the kids are playing really well now and we hope to peak at the right time.”

Next Saturday (Feb. 11) the Knights play Nazareth Academy at 4 p.m. at the Wheaton Academy Shootout.

“It’s an interesting matchup for us playing a team from the Catholic League,” Johnson said. “They have a 7-footer who is a freshman and they handled Marmion earlier in the year when Marmion wasn’t playing as well as they are now.

“I know they’ll probably play a little more physical than we’re used to. I’ll probably have flashbacks to my days (playing) at St. Edward.”