Safe to say, Travis Brown and coach Michael Fowler speak a language all their own.
It’s not completely foreign to his West Aurora teammates, but Brown and Fowler’s common bond — point guard — gives them a special connection that continues to grow and pay dividends.
Brown, a 6-foot sophomore, was named the Upstate Eight West’s player of the year last week after leading the Blackhawks to the conference’s division title.
“We have that point guard connection, the way that we talk to each other, the way we figure out stuff,” Brown said of Fowler. “We can just put our minds in one, and we just get the win.”
They came up with another one Wednesday night as Brown scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Blackhawks to a 54-47 win over the host Mustangs in a Class 4A Downers Grove South Regional semifinal.
West Aurora (21-8), seeded fifth in the Benet Sectional, won its 16th straight game to advance to the 7 p.m. Friday regional final. Fourth-seeded Downers Grove North (24-8) beat Yorkville 51-38.
How fun was that?
“Playoff basketball is really exciting,” Brown said. “We’ve gotta play like it’s our last game every game.”
Senior forward Terrence Smith added 13 points with four dunks for West Aurora, while senior center Gabe Gonzales chipped in with eight points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
Brown, who also had four rebounds, five assists and three steals, keyed a 12–0 run that broke a 10-10 tie in the second quarter. It helped the Blackhawks take control 27-14 at halftime.
After Downers Grove South rallied to within six points in the final 90 seconds, West Aurora relied on some clutch free-throw shooting. Brown made 3 of 4 before fouling out with 16 seconds left.
“Sometimes, I wish he’d use his brain a little bit,” Fowler said. “I told him we were gonna get the ball back with the lead, there’s no need for that.”
Brown also caught some grief for not getting out quickly enough on a 3-point shooter.
“That goes for everyone across the board,” Fowler said. “We expect a lot out of them, defensive-wise. We can’t lose people on defense.
“I will give a little leeway on offense because offense will come and go, but we can’t be lackadaisical on defense.”
Fowler was the starting point guard as a senior, averaging 7.7 points and 4.5 assists for West Aurora’s Class AA state championship team in the 1999-2000 season.
Brown entered the postseason averaging 13.8 points and 4.0 assists.
“We got off to a slow start, but he had a good second quarter,” Fowler said of Brown. “Travis is someone who can just make plays, and sometimes, you gotta let him go and make plays.”
Brown did just that with a spinning drive down the lane, sinking a floater that led to a 3-point play that capped West Aurora’s spurt in the second quarter. He then dribbled out the clock before calmly letting fly a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the top of the key.
“That’s Travis — tons of respect,” said Smith, the Iowa football recruit whose return from a knee injury coincides with a winning streak that dates to Jan. 4. “He works on those moments a lot in practice.
“He went to his bag of moves on that drive, and that three, that’s his shot. It was nothing new.”
As for Smith’s dunks, three came on lobs from Brown.
“Our connection is pretty tight,” Smith said. “It took a little bit to get going, but after a while, we connected and it was up from there.”
Just like the connection Fowler expects will continue with Brown.
“Our relationship is still growing,” Fowler said. “Hopefully, he’s like me on the floor as far as what I want done once he’s a senior and moving on toward his college career.”
