Nothing was really going right Friday night in the first half for West Aurora’s Travis Brown.
The sophomore point guard missed his first five shots and was getting beat on defense.
“In the locker room, we challenged him to stop worrying about offense and you really need to sit down and guard because I thought No. 2 (Joseph Cwik) was really going at Travis,” West Aurora coach Michael Fowler said. “Travis stepped up his defense there, and that kind of just led to easy opportunities for him getting in the game scoring.
“Players have to understand there’s different ways to impact wins. He needed to figure that out down the stretch in the second half, and I think he did. The game became easy to him.”
Indeed, Brown scored 19 of his game-high 21 points after intermission and the host Blackhawks rallied to beat Bartlett 68-65 in double overtime in an Upstate Eight Conference opener.
The comeback was as improbable as it was thrilling for West Aurora (1-4, 1-0), especially considering the Blackhawks had trailed 32-18 at halftime. Things actually got a little worse before they got better.
The Hawks (0-5, 0-1) then increased their lead to 40-25 on a 3-pointer by senior forward Keegan Taylor at the 4:43 mark of the third quarter.
But senior center Gabe Gonzales — who came up with 18 points, 11 rebounds and three steals for West Aurora before fouling out in the second overtime — ignited an 11-0 run by making two free throws and the Blackhawks pulled even for a 41-41 tie late in the third quarter.
Yet Bartlett led for most of the fourth quarter until Brown sank two free throws to force a 51-51 tie with 15.5 seconds left. The Hawks missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Brown had missed his first three attempts from the line but those late conversions were the start of something special. He sank six in a row and 11 of his last 14, with the same thought in mind before every shot.
“I was thinking I’ve got to make these,” Brown said. “I’ve got to make them for my team. We’ve got to get our first ‘W.’”
For much of the game, it didn’t look like the Blackhawks would do so. But Brown took Fowler’s advice to heart and was buoyed by his teammates.
“My teammates were bringing me up,” Brown said. “They were telling me I got to go.
“I have confidence in my teammates. I had my two sophomores with me — Abe Martinez and Jaden Matthews. They were really clutch.”
Martinez added four points and three assists, while Matthews contributed eight rebounds and three points, including the free throw that finished the scoring with 16.1 seconds left in the second overtime after Brown had scored the previous six points for West Aurora.
Colin Taylor scored 17 points, while Cwik and Keegan Taylor each had 14 for Bartlett. Both Cwik and Keegan Taylor fouled out in the second OT.
Kael Adkins had nine points and seven rebounds and Jaden Edwards added eight points, five boards and two steals off the bench for the Blackhawks, who are without star senior Terrence Smith due to knee surgery and a couple others for disciplinary reasons.
“We didn’t expect this (start) going into the season but we’ve just got to adjust and go through whatever we’ve got to go through,” Brown said. “We’ve just got to play hard and get those games.”
The Blackhawks got their first win thanks largely to Brown.
“He’s going to be fine,” Fowler said. “I don’t worry about him too much.
“Sometimes, you’ve got to challenge kids, and he got it going and he made plays down the stretch. He finished well for us.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
