PONTIAC — After winning the consolation championship in 2019, the Danville boys basketball team went on a cycle of losing two games in a row at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament.
That cycle ended on Friday, when the Vikings beat West Aurora 74-63 in a consolation quarterfinal.
“We took care of business and it was the first time in a while since we won in Pontiac,” Danville coach David Gouard said. “Coming into this morning, we had high energy and it showed what we can do if we play defense, share the ball and have good energy and we did in the first quarter.”
In that first quarter, the Vikings jumped out to a 20-5 lead and had a 38-29 halftime lead. Danville outscored West Aurora 22-10 in the third quarter to cruise from there.
JaVaughn Robinson had 33 points with four 3-pointers, 10 rebounds, four steals, and four assists.
“He had a day. He’s special and he is always steady and even-keeled and that’s what you expect out of your senior point guard,” Gouard said.
CL Dye had 15 points with Corey Frye getting 10 points off the bench. Ajani Davis had six points and Jerry Reed added four. Gouard also recognized the play of freshman Amir Beasley during the game.
“CL and Corey gave us great minutes and Corey did well considering he is a transfer and new to the program,” Gouard said. He gave us great minutes off the bench and moving Diddy off the ball and let him operate. We also had some great minutes from Amir Beasley, it didn’t show in the stat sheet, but it showed the promise that he has in the future.”
The Vikings were coming off a 70-36 loss on Thursday to Benet Academy. Dye and Beasley each had eight points for Danville, while Frye had six, Davis had four and Robinson and Eriean Smith each had three.
“Going against Benet, they showed why they were the runner-up here last year,” Gouard said. “They are strong with the two bigs that they have.”
The Vikings played Plainfield North at 9 p.m. for a chance to play in today’s Consolation Championship. The result of that game will be on www.commercial-news.com