Naperville North overcame a 15-point halftime deficit with a furious fourth-quarter comeback Tuesday night to defeat Batavia 60-55 in the semifinals of the East Aurora sectional.
Batavia`s Corey Williams scored 20 of his game-high 32 points in the first half to stake the Bulldogs to a 34-19 lead.
But Dave Groharing (23 points) and Bob Born (18) combined for 27 second-half points to revive Naperville North (21-6).
”In the first half we were a little intimidated,” Groharing said. ”At halftime, Coach (Mark Lindo) asked us if we wanted to win the game. We knew it was a matter of going out and playing hard.”
Naperville North took the lead for good at 55-53 with :51 to play when Groharing scored over Williams. Groharing then helped ice the win by hitting four free throws down the stretch.
Chris Connelly added 11 for Batavia, which finished 21-5.
Public League playoffs-With 17 seconds left, sophomore guard Ronald Duling dribbled to the free throw line and sank a jump shot to give Westinghouse a 50-48 victory over Young at Collins. Young`s Nick Bean and Jelani Boline each had chances to tie or win the game in the last :15, but both missed.
Neither team ever led by more than six points. Young`s biggest lead was 25-19 with 2:10 left in the second quarter, but Westinghouse tied it at 25 at halftime. Young hit seven of 10 three-point tries.
Taft wasted little time disposing of Prosser. The Eagles (28-1) scored the first 13 points of the game, and led 21-2 after the first period, en route to a 71-47 victory.
Ken Pratt (26 points) led the first-quarter blitz with 11 points, six off breakaways after he stole the ball. Shawn Jackson (16 points, 13 rebounds)
added seven points in the first quarter.
No. 2 King, leading only 27-26 at the half, began the third quarter with a 14-2 spurt to beat Red-Central Section rival Dunbar (17-12) for the third time this season, 62-43 at Simeon.
DeWarren Stewart scored 11 of his 16 points in the period for the Jaguars.
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Rashard Griffith paced the Jaguars (26-1) with 16 points, nine rebounds and six blocks, and Thomas Hamilton added 15 points and nine rebounds.
Defending Public League champion Marshall (25-3) blistered Farragut 87-41 at Young. Marshall harassed Farragut (21-8) into a horrible 13-of-75 (17 percent) shooting performance. Farragut scored just five points in the opening quarter, trailed 26-13 at the half and 55-18 after three quarters.