Terrence Smith, West Aurora heat up in the second half to down Geneva in MLK Day of Hoops

GENEVA — West Aurora’s Terrence Smith knew he needed to get at least one dunk in the game.

After not getting one in the first three quarters against Geneva, the Iowa football commit knew that he needed to get above the rim at least once before the games end, or else he knew he wasn’t playing hard enough.

So when he finally found the open lane after getting a pass from Jaden Edwards midway through the fourth quarter he got his shot.

And slammed it down.

And a few plays later, Edwards found him again, this time with a lob pass to a flying Smith, who slammed it down with ease.

“Going through a game without a dunk is just not like me,” Smith said. “I was just running as fast a I could to get those dunks. It hypes the team up and me up as well.”

Smith’s dunks put an exclamation point on his 17 second-half points, which helped the Blackhawks win their sixth straight contest with a 49-40 victory over Geneva during the MLK Day of Hoops.

West Aurora (11-8) ended up struggling to find the basket in the first half, entering the locker room at halftime trailing 19-14. Of those Blackhawks struggling was Smith, who was scoreless on 0-for-2 shooting.

So when head coach Mike Fowler approached him about the slow start, the senior made a realization about his play style.

“I just realized that I was playing kind of slow and wasn’t playing as aggressively as I usually do,” Smith said. “The coaches and players were telling me that, and I realized that myself. So going into the second half, I knew that my team needed me and I needed to be aggressive and put my foot on the gas.”

Smith ended up taking those words to heart and showing it on the court, as he would go a perfect 6-for-6 from the field to help turn the Blackhawks' five-point deficit into a five-point advantage by the end of the quarter.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to push him a little bit and give him a challenge,” Fowler said. “He had some good baskets for us in the third quarter to get us going, and then those over-the-top ones that he had as well.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to challenge your best players, especially if you think they’re capable of doing more on the floor, and I think he stepped up to that challenge.”

Alongside Smith, sophomore Abe Martinez also woke up in the second half, specifically in the fourth quarter. Martinez scored all 10 of his points in the final frame alone, including two 3-pointers.

“He gave us a spark too, especially with those big shots down the stretch,” Fowler said. “I’m proud of my sophomore. They’re young, but they’re learning and getting that experience, and hopefully it’ll be a good thing for us moving forward.”

Geneva (17-4) managed to hold the Blackhawks down defensively in the first half, which head coach Scott Hennig said he was happy about. But once the pace changed in the second half, he felt his team just couldn’t keep up.

“We kept them in the half court in the first half, and that was the key,” Hennig said. “We felt like if we let them go up-and-down, they’re just too athletic. They can score in a hurry, and we’re not as athletic as they are.”

Senior Hudson Kirby led the scoring with 16 points, and was the only Vikings' player to record more that two field goals on the night. The Vikings also struggled with 3-point shooting in the contest, going 4-of-15 from behind the arc.

“I thought the effort was good, but our inability to take care of the ball and to hit shots just wasn’t there,” Hennig said. “But I thought the effort was good, the game plan was set. We just didn’t capitalize.”