West Aurora’s Terrence Smith operates in a space that few others than him can.
The 6-foot-4 junior forward likes to play above the rim — actually, loves to play above the rim — and he understands the influence that ability can have on the outcome of a game.
“I know it definitely changes the momentum for us,” said Smith, who seemingly spent much of Friday night in the air. “I know our guys love it. The bench, the crowd, it gets us fired up.
“I know we have an advantage with that because a lot of teams are intimidated by that. They don’t jump, and it’s a wide-open dunk for me.”
Smith made sure to shake the rim several times against Oswego, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for the Blackhawks in a 61-44 Southwest Prairie Conference win.
Seven of Smith’s eight baskets were dunks for West Aurora (4-2, 2-0) and the other was a layup off a lob from CJ Savage, who ended up leading all scorers with 20 points.
Savage scored 18 points in the second half when the Blackhawks pulled away from Oswego (0-6, 0-2), which was led by 14 points from Nolan Petry. Dasean Patton added 11.
Still, Smith did his work in a variety of ways. He dunked off feeds from his teammates, plus came up with steals and sprinted up the court for dunks. He even had dunks off rebounds.
“My teammates set me up pretty good for a dunk most of the time,” Smith said. “Just run the floor, I get a little space under the rim, and I’m just trying to dunk it.”
Michael Fowler, in his first season as West Aurora’s coach, realizes how valuable that commodity is.
“Athleticism, that’s it,” Fowler said. “It’s good to have someone like that. We can do that. He has a little bit of learning left to do, how to play, how to maneuver. He’s only a junior.
“He’s a great kid. He’s fun to be around.”
Oswego coach Chad Pohlmann said dealing with Smith defensively is a big challenge.
“If they penetrate and you go help, he’s going to go up and slam it every time,” Pohlmann said. “He’s crazy with his length. He’s a heck of a talent, for sure.”
Smith had 10 points, including four dunks, as West Aurora took a 25-22 halftime lead. Oswego stuck around, however, forcing a 29-29 tie with 4:15 left in the third quarter.
A 9-2 spurt, however, helped the Blackhawks regain control and they took off from there.
“Once it started getting going, it was pretty easy,” Smith said. “We were just doing our stuff, running the floor, playing at a fast pace like we like to do.
“It’s pretty easy from there.”
Pohlmann was proud of how his inexperienced team hung in there against a veteran team.
“We’ve been pretty banged up,” he said. “We have a lot of inexperience out there. It’s taken us some time to figure out how to compete, figure out how to play together.
“We executed pretty well until right there at the end of the third, start of the fourth quarter. I thought the game was a lot closer.”
Fowler said defense is becoming his team’s hallmark, and he was happy with how the Blackhawks only allowed 44 points on the road.
Smith said West Aurora’s improvement on that end of the court has been the main difference Fowler has brought to the program.
“Our defense is definitely way better compared to last year,” Smith said. “We take more pride in it. He’s very prideful in what he does. He coaches us hard, and it means a lot to us.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
