Win one for the old man? Not this night.
With West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman unavailable for Thursday’s game at Metea Valley and assistant Paul Kieffer calling the shots, would a Blackhawk win count toward his career total which is nearing 800?
The Mustangs made the point moot, roaring back from seven points down late in the third quarter to claim a 75-59 Upstate Eight Valley win that puts a severe cramp in the Blackhawks’ dwindling league title hopes.
Kerkman is sidelined by a leg injury, apparently suffered in a home accident related to last weekend’s snowstorm.
West Aurora (14-7, 6-3) drops two games down in the loss column to frontrunner Neuqua’s Valley.
“We came out flat and I was kind of surprised, because I thought we had a couple of pretty good practices coming into the game,” Kieffer said.
“We started flat and finished even flatter.”
Did they ever.
After leading 16-14 after one quarter and 34-31 at the half, the Blackhawks took their biggest lead of the game — 48-41 — when freshman Camron Donatlan took a feed from Roland Griffin (24 points, 12 rebounds) and made a layup on a baseline drive.
From that point on, it was all Mustangs (11-12, 6-5).
“The possession before that (assistant coach Tim Pease) said, ‘We’ve got to change something,'” Metea Valley coach Bob Vozza’s said.
Vozza switched to a 3-2 zone and it worked wonders.
The Mustangs outscored the Blackhawks 34-11 over the final 10:30 to cruise to the win.
An 11-0 spurt over a three-minute span of the fourth quarter, capped by four straight free throws from Ron Edwards (17 points) and including a key 3-pointer from Dei’Ron Delarosa (16 points), broke a 54-54 tie.
“Griffin is a very good player and with someone like that, you have to give him different looks,” said Metea Valley center Mark Konkle, who muscled his way to a team-high 18 points, mostly in the paint.
Five Mustangs finished in double figures with Bryson Oliver adding 11 and Nick Dodson 10.
West Aurora shot 64 percent (16-for-25) in the first half and just 34 percent (10-for-29) in the second.
“We had no answer for Konkle, but they should have no answer for some of our guys,” Kieffer said.
“We’re two behind Neuqua Valley, they’re definitely in the driver’s seat, but it will also have an impact on sectional seeding.”
rarmstrong@tribune
