Waubonsie Valley’s Matthew Sessom can fool you.
While he generally keeps a lower profile, it’s wise to not overlook the 6-foot-3 senior forward.
So says junior point guard Tyreek Coleman, Sessom’s teammate.
“He’s quiet on the court, kind of soft-spoken,” Coleman said. “But the fact is, he’s a dog.”
And one with some bite.
“If there’s an opportunity on the glass, he can really help,” Coleman said of Sessom. “He’s an aggressive player — the workhorse of the team.”
Sessom was definitely the spark Saturday in the first quarter of Waubonsie’s 46-29 victory over West Aurora in a battle between the area’s top-ranked teams.
It came at Marmion featuring 12 local teams in three girls and three boys games in a daylong Aurora vs. Cancer event that raised money to fight pediatric cancer.
Thirty five seconds in, short-handed West Aurora (14-7) looked thunderstruck.
Coleman opened with a driving layup and Sessom promptly stole the ball and scored on a reverse layup. Junior forward Moses Wilson then made a steal and fed senior guard Treshawn Blissett for another layup and a 6-0 lead for Waubonsie (20-0).
The margin was 18-3 after one quarter, but West Aurora got a spark from the 3-point shooting of senior guards CJ Savage and Jordan Brooks and rallied to within 28-26 midway through the third quarter.
Savage and Brooks finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively, but the Blackhawks were outscored 18-3 over the final 12 minutes.
Sessom, who had eight points, four rebounds and three steals in the first quarter, matched Blissett in finishing with 16 points.
“That’s as good a game as Matt can play on both ends of the court,” Waubonsie coach Andrew Schweitzer said. “Sometimes, he can go off. He’s one of our low guys in the zone, and he has been taking the next step as far as being a vocal leader.
“Down there, you see everything, and you have to talk the most.”
Sessom said the Warriors learned the morning of the game that West Aurora would be without starting forward Terrence Smith and sixth man/guard Kewon Marshall, both of whom are juniors.
“We’ve gotta play our game no matter who is on the other side,” Sessom said. “We thought (20-0) was possible. We knew we had a good team but we didn’t take it for granted.
“Bench energy has been a key and everyone playing as a team.”
Schweitzer shrugged and smiled when asked about the streak.
“I’m just here for the ride,” he said. “It’s just a fun group to be around.”
Struggling Blackhawks
West Aurora was also without the services of Smith and Marshall for the same disciplinary issue Friday during a 73-60 Southwest Prairie Conference loss to Joliet West.
At 8-1, the Blackhawks still hold a one-game lead over both the Tigers and Oswego East, who are 7-2, in the 16-game conference race.
“They didn’t meet team expectations, we’ll leave it at that,” West Aurora coach Michael Fowler said of the issue.
Asked if they would return Tuesday against Plainfield South, Fowler said, “We’ll have a conversation and see.” The Blackhawks, who are on a three-game losing streak, also play Thursday at Yorkville and have a Saturday nonconference matchup at New Trier (19-4).
While disappointed in his team’s start against Waubonsie, Fowler was pleased to see the Blackhawks rally.
“You have to be able to take situations as they come at you,” he said. “You still have to go out and play. You have to be able to face adversity.”
Bouncing back
Jason Jakstys averaged 15 points and 17 rebounds during a pair of weekend wins in a 24-hour span for Yorkville (11-8).
Behind the Illinois recruit, the Foxes beat Romeoville 57-49 Friday night, then slipped past Whitney Young 67-65 Saturday on a driving layup by Dayvion Johnson with three seconds remaining in the When Sides Collide Shootout at Benet.
“He was really big for us and is closing in on 1,000 points,” Yorkville coach John Holakovsky said of Jakstys. “Everyone kept saying Whitney Young is really down, what they should have been saying is they are really young. They’ll be a top five team in state the next couple years.
“We had a little bit of adversity but did a nice job of battling back. We were down double digits and had to come back several times in that game.”
