Bigger is better, right?
Hoffman Estates made a case for that theory Tuesday when it upset West Aurora 52-42 in the DeKalb supersectional in front of 3,475 fans at Northern Illinois’ Chick Evans Field House.
The victory sent the Hawks (27-3) into the quarterfinals for the first time. They’ll play Public League champion Westinghouse at 8:15 p.m. Friday in Peoria’s Carver Arena.
“We did the things we needed to do to win the game,” said Hoffman Estates coach Bill Wandro. “We controlled the rebounding, we minimized turnovers and we got good shot selection.”
For the taller, stronger Hawks, the physical play started with 6-foot-7-inch center Nick Abruzzo, who scored 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds.
But Abruzzo’s presence in the middle goes beyond statistics. He generally created so much havoc on the defensive end that West Aurora could never get into the flow of its offense. The Hawks outrebounded West Aurora 28-14 and made 18 of 31 shots from the floor.
“He (Abruzzo) just killed us on the boards–and they did an excellent job defensively,” said West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman. “They put so much stress on us that we couldn’t get our offense going. They took away the passing lanes. They just wouldn’t let us do the things we normally do.”
The knockout punch for the Hawks came in the third quarter, when Hoffman held West Aurora (27-3) scoreless for almost eight minutes.
Up 20-18 at halftime, Hoffman outscored the Upstate Eight champions 11-2 in the third period. Marty Manning’s 15-foot jumper with 28 seconds left in the quarter gave the Hawks a 31-20 lead heading into the fourth.
“The third quarter was critical,” said Wandro. “We’ve played well in the third quarter. Considering the opponent and the situation, that’s the best we’ve played all year.”
West Aurora had one last spurt left. The Blackhawks went on a 9-2 run to start the fourth quarter. A pair of free throws by Ricky Taylor with 5:03 left cut the Hoffman lead to four.
“I felt real good,” said Wandro. “I got a little nervous in the fourth quarter. But they never really scored in clumps except in that stretch. That’s what we wanted.”
Hoffman answered with the next four points on a tip-in by Abruzzo and two Manning free throws to make the score 37-29 with 4:34 left.
“They were real physical,” said Taylor, who played only 19 minutes (four fouls) and had just six points. “They were strong in the post. We tried to box them out, but we couldn’t. We knew they’d be good. We tried to adjust to their style of play, but we just couldn’t.”
Many had expected the Hawks to wilt under the pressure of West Aurora’s defense, which had held three opponents to fewer than 30 points this season.
“They’re the most physical team we’ve played all year,” said Kerkman. “Not even Peoria Manual was that physical.”
Hoffman led almost the whole game. After West opened with a basket by Greg Miller, Hoffman scored the next six points. A basket by Mark Ganek with 4:38 left in the first quarter gave the Hawks the lead for good and a chance to do something their school has never experienced.
“It’s really indescribable,” said Abruzzo. “But to be honest, we kind of expected it. We’ve played together since 7th grade, and we knew we could get Downstate.”
“We all believed we could do it,” said Ganek. “This is what we’ve worked for. It’s just a great feeling.”
