Third-ranked West Aurora was at Naperville Central, so the chants weren’t that overpowering. But the message, which was delivered by its fans and punctuated by Jamaal Thompson, was clear and on the mark.
Several times during Friday night’s DuPage Valley Conference showdown, the Blackhawks’ fans chanted “MVP! MVP!” after Thompson scored. The 6-foot-4-inch senior did his best to live up to the billing as he and his teammates overwhelmed their hosts 70-48.
Thompson, named most valuable player in the Class AA title game last year, said the chants didn’t motivate him to score a game-high 23 points to go along with six rebounds and three steals.
“I try to block it out,” he said of the chants. “It motivated me a lot when I read that [Naperville Central forward] Mike Wilson was the best player in the conference.”
“I think [Thompson] was a man on a mission tonight,” West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman said.
Thompson said he tried he did his best to shut down Wilson, who scored 11 of his team-high 13 points in the second half when the game was all but over. The Blackhawks (14-2, 6-1), who moved a game ahead of Central (13-5, 5-2) in the conference race, led 28-14 at halftime after holding the Redhawks to two second-quarter points.
Derik Hollyfield scored eight of West Aurora’s 16 second-quarter points as it held Naperville scoreless until 1 minute 15 seconds remained in the period. Hollyfield, who easily could have staked claim to the team’s MVP honor Friday, finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two assists. The 6-3 senior was also the biggest reason why the Blackhawks dominated the offensive glass.
Kerkman, whose team was coming off what he termed two “bad” practices, said Hollyfield’s emergence has lifted the Blackhawks after they lost at home to Wheaton North two weeks ago.
“I think Hollyfield is getting more active,” Kerkman said. “Now that he’s starting to pick it up, I think the team’s starting to pick it up. We had two bad practices. I think we came back pretty good.”
Naperville coach Bob Sterr, whose team trailed 41-18 early in the third quarter, can’t argue with Kerkman’s assessment. “Offensive boards–they had a million of them,” Sterr said. “Everything we didn’t want to happen, happened.”
Daniel Real and Jason Thomas each added eight points for the Blackhawks.
