In the midst of the furious finish Westinghouse was mounting, a controlled desperation guiding the Warriors’ every move, West Aurora’s 6-foot-6-inch center Austin Real had a flashback.
He thought about all those long rides to Oak Park during a summer at its most sweltering, sweating it out in a school bus with no air conditioning. At times the bus would overheat, forcing the Blackhawks to pull off the road and interrupt their journey to a summer league game.
From such simplicity sometimes evolve the building blocks of a champion.
“All that hard work, getting up early, everything we sacrificed–we just couldn’t let it get away,” Real said. “I kept thinking: `We can’t let Westinghouse get to us.”‘
Finally, after a heads-up defensive play by Louis Smith and a three-point prayer by Westinghouse’s Tavaris Wiggins that sailed off into history, West Aurora came away with a 60-57 victory Saturday night in Carver Arena to win its first state basketball championship before a crowd of 11,813.
Real led the Blackhawks with 17 points and nine rebounds while Jamaal Thompson had 15 points and Derik Hollyfield 12.
For all of its speed and hustle, Westinghouse couldn’t always compensate for the lack of a defensive stopper down low.
Welcome to Real’s world.
“I knew I’d have to play big,” Real said. “You’re playing in the state championship game, and if you don’t want to take a big role, you’d better sit down.”
No. 2-ranked West Aurora (32-1) had played with such precision and grace that its 55-46 lead with 1 minute 5 seconds left seemed to guarantee that Blackhawks coach Gordie Kerkman would be a champion for the first time in his 24-year career.
But No. 1 Westinghouse (31-2), which played all season with big hearts, quick hands and an intimidating press, wasn’t ready to concede anything. A pair of three-point shots by Dennis Trammell (14 points) and a three-point play by Cedrick Banks (22 points) ignited a rally that left the Public League champion down 60-57 with 5.1 seconds to go.
That’s when Smith deflected a pass out of bounds, giving Westinghouse just :00.8 to force an overtime. Trammell couldn’t get open, the ‘House was out of timeouts, so Wiggins was left with a desperation heave.
It was nothing like the 30-footer that West Aurora point guard Mike Fowler banked in to beat the third-quarter buzzer.
“That was pure luck,” Fowler said with a smile. “I just heaved it up and hoped.” Then Fowler looked up at the scoreboard, and the final margin hit home.
“Maybe that shot was the difference,” he said about his only points of the game.
Maybe it was payback for Kerkman, who sat helplessly on the bench as a Blackhawk assistant in 1976 when another Public League team broke his heart. That West Aurora team led by one when Laird Smith’s 15-footer at the buzzer gave Morgan Park the state title.
This time it was Jamaal Thompson hitting four free throws in the final 23 seconds to stave off the Warriors.
“West Aurora played tough when they had to and we didn’t bring our `A’ game,” said Westinghouse coach Chris Head. “That’s OK. That’s life. There’s a lesson we just learned. You have to be great losers before you can be great winners.”
For West Aurora’s players, their lives may never be the same.
“This will mean so much to the school because it’s the first state basketball championship in Aurora history,” Fowler. “We’ll probably get inducted into the hall of fame.”
