It’s the next man up. That’s the way it works in sports.
Coming into this season, sophomore point guard Travis Brown knew he would have an expanded role for West Aurora. What he didn’t expect, however, is that it would entail this much this fast.
With the Blackhawks shorthanded due to injury and other issues going into the season opener, a lot fell on the shoulders of the 5-foot-10 Brown, who saw only limited spot duty as a freshman.
“He’s got a good lineage,” coach Michael Fowler said, mentioning Travis’ brother Traevon, a West Aurora graduate. “His father (Travis) played at East Aurora and the family plays basketball.
“He’s there. He’s adjusting. He’s still got a little bit of growing to do, but I’m comfortable with the ball in his hands, making plays. He’s learning the rest of this season and the next two after that.”
Brown stepped up early and often Monday in his first varsity start, scoring a team-high 18 points in a 47-45 loss to Neuqua Valley in a Hoops for Healing Tournament first-round game at Oswego.
Senior center Gabe Gonzales added 13 points for the Blackhawks (0-1), who were playing without a pair of likely starters in senior forwards Terrence Smith and Kewon Marshall.
Smith, an Iowa football recruit, was on the bench in street clothes using crutches after having knee surgery earlier in the day. Marshall, also a football standout, was unavailable.
“I was proud of our effort,” Fowler said. “Obviously, you look at the roster right now, we’re down some people. It might look quite a bit different from how it’s going to look.”
Fowler isn’t sure of the timetable but does expect to have Smith back this season.
Meanwhile, Brown’s midrange jumper from the wing with 39 seconds remaining gave West Aurora a 45-44 lead before sophomore forward Mason Martin connected on a 3-pointer from the corner with 5 seconds left for the winner.
“Going into the game, we were hoping to win,” Brown said. “We came up a little bit short. We’ve gotta do better next time on the defensive end. It’s where a lot of games are won or lost.”
West Aurora did get the ball up the court but couldn’t unleash a final shot for the tie or win.
“It was actually supposed to go in the other direction,” Fowler said. “We kept it too long. They did a good job of trapping up there. Our shot was a second too late. We’ll learn from it. I’ll learn from it.”
Freshman Cole Kelly, a 6-6 forward, scored a game-high 21 points for Neuqua Valley (1-0). He hit a 3-pointer and scored on a dunk, sparking the Wildcats to an early 9-4 lead.
Brown then countered by leading West Aurora’s 11-4 run to head into the second quarter with a 15-13 lead. Brown came up with 11 points and two of his five steals in the first quarter.
Brown and Kelly both cooled off in the second half.
“Our guys adjusted to what Neuqua Valley was doing and understanding a lot of the action they were running, the chin screens and the flex action,” Fowler said. “We didn’t come up with the points down the stretch we needed and they ran a good set and knocked it down in the half court.
“We lost the championship game here last year against Fenwick on a shot from that same corner.”
Gonzales, who was big in the middle for West Aurora, gave Brown credit.
“I think Travis did a really good job keeping us in sync and scoring the ball for us because that’s what we need out of him,” Gonzales said. “I don’t think anybody out there could guard him because he was just blowing by everybody. I thought he did a really good job.”
