Maybe Josh Pickett and his West Aurora teammates figured enough was enough.
It certainly appeared that way.
The Blackhawks entered Friday’s senior night against Southwest Prairie West rival Plainfield North — the final home game of the season — having lost seven of eight since Jan. 16.
West Aurora’s only win in that span was over struggling Plainfield Central.
“Everybody was down in the dumps,” Pickett said. “We were hurting and probably weren’t real mature. We were being negative instead of positive and helping each other.
“Everybody was kind of low.”
A disappointing first half didn’t help as the Blackhawks went into the locker room trailing the hot-shooting Tigers 38-27 before turning the tables and rallying for a 68-59 win.
West Aurora coach Brian Johnson didn’t take credit for an inspirational speech.
“We didn’t tell them anything — other than we can’t give up 38 points in a half,” Johnson said. “That’s ridiculous in high school basketball.
“We told them we have to play better defense. We have to limit them to one shot and get loose balls.”
Check, check and check as Pickett, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, provided the spark for West Aurora (16-14, 8-7).
The Blackhawks extended their defense and Pickett cooled off Demir Ashiru, a good friend and AAU teammate who had 13 points in the first half for Plainfield North (14-12, 7-8).
Offensively, Pickett erupted for 20 of his game-high 22 points in the first 12 minutes of the second half.
“He’s like a brother to me,” Pickett said of Ashiru. “He’s mainly a football guy. He’s got me there, but I’ve always got him in basketball. It’s always a cool rivalry.
“I took it personally. He was hot in the first half. It was my job to shut him down.”
Pickett scored 29 points in the first meeting, a 77-67 win on Dec. 9.
Ashiru, a 6-2, 175-pound quarterback recruit who has committed to Ferris State, played on Jan. 31 in the Blue-Grey All-American Game at Tampa Bay’s Raymond James Stadium.
“I know they love to beat us,” Ashiru said of West Aurora. “This was a revenge game for us, but they just put their foot down.”
The Tigers shot 70% (16 of 23) in the first half but were held to 21 points in the second half while shooting 29%.
The Blackhawks improved their accuracy from 43% (10 of 23) in the first half to 60% (12 of 20) in the second half.
Pickett and junior guard Jordan Brooks, who provided 17 points, each ended up connecting for five 3-pointers.
Sophomore forward Terrence Smith added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Blackhawks. Pickett also had seven rebounds, while junior guard C.J. Savage chipped in with nine points and five assists.
“They were shooting really well,” Brooks said. “We pressed them and got them out of their offense and slowed them down a little bit because they were getting transition buckets.
“Josh (Pickett) can shoot. Once he gets hot like that, there’s no looking back. We wanted this one for our seniors.”
Pairings for the upcoming postseason were released Friday. West Aurora is seeded 11th in the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional and opens up in the Lockport Regional against the seventh-seeded host Porters.
Plainfield North is seeded ninth and drew sixth-seeded Romeoville for its opener in the Joliet West Regional.
Johnson said he didn’t think his players were making a statement about the seeding with the win.
“I think it was more like, ‘We’ve gotta come together before the season ends,'” Johnson said. “We’ve just gotta be focused, go out and win for ourselves as a team.”