BATAVIA -- The Aurora West Blackhawks, ranked sixth in Class AA boys' basketball, hammered the Rock Island Rocks 67-40 at the Batavia Shootout Saturday.

The Rocks can take consolation that the rankings say it should get easier down their regular-season stretch. It's no consolation, though, that those games will be against No. 17-ranked Moline, No. 19 Quincy and No. 21 Rochelle, in that order.

``I won't know if a game like this helps us until we get to next week,'' said RI coach Thom Sigel, whose Rocks get a rematch at home Friday night with a Moline team that annihilated them last month in Western Big 6 play as badly as the Blackhawks did in the shootout.

However, 6-foot-3 junior Brandin Smith, who managed a game-high 11 rebounds despite being paired against AW's 6-7 Shaun Pruitt, is certain the game was a momentum-builder despite being a blowout.

``This was a challenge,'' said Smith. ``We won't see teams that have a 6-7 player.'

Pruitt hit his first six shots and ended up 10-of-14 from the field for 21 points. The sophomore transfer from Providence St. Mel also had 10 rebounds. Not bad for a guy who was playing just his fifth game of the season, having broken a foot in his second game.

What was promising for the Rocks, though, was their ability to shut down the Blackhawks' other transfer, 6-5 junior Dameon Mason from Waubonsie Valley. He came in with a 20.4 scoring average. He hit just 3-of-9 shots for six points. Too, sophomore point guard Jaeh Thomas, a second-year starter, was 2-of-9 for seven points.

``We were right in the hunt,'' said Sigel, his team being as close as 22-17 midway through the second period. It was 32-18 at halftime.

Another bright spot was sophomore Justin Sharp. He hit double figures in scoring for a second straight game with 11. He also was responsible for shutting off Thomas, who had just one field goal through three quarters.

Next in scoring for the Rocks was Marcus McQueen, with 4-of-5 from the field for nine points.

Still, Aurora West's superiority was obvious. ``They did some things to us that exposed our weaknesses more than other teams that we had faced,'' Sigel said.

That, though, could be a good thing, preparing the Rocks for a pair of tough weekends to come.

``We have to be men about it, come back and play next Friday,'' Sigel said.

RI sophs fall for 2nd time: The Rock Island sophomores lost for only the second time in the final sophomore game of the Batavia Shootout, losing 53-47 to Aurora West. RI trailed 31-24 at halftime, and shot only two second-half free throws, those coming in the final 13 seconds.

Leading the Rocks in scoring was A.J. Veasey and Dail Rice, both with 10 points.

Copyright 2000, Moline Dispatch Publishing Co.

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Head Varsity Basketball Coach
Thom Sigel

Assistant Varsity Basketball Coach
Ed Veasey

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