Welcome back.
It won’t be in the box score, but the guess here? Junior guard Abe Martinez would happily give the miracle of modern medicine an assist in West Aurora’s latest win.
“I came back thinking I’d play right away and come back where I was last year, but obviously, God has his own plans,” said Martinez, who suffered a serious knee injury last spring on the baseball field after establishing himself as a key contributor during the winter in basketball.
“My comeback just wasn’t like that.”
Martinez was back in business Wednesday night, however.
He connected on a baseline 3-pointer with 47 seconds left that proved to be the game-winner as the host Blackhawks pulled off a mild upset with a 43-39 win over Waubonsie Valley in a Class 4A West Aurora Regional semifinal.
Martinez celebrated his 17th birthday by scoring nine points off the bench as 11th-seeded West Aurora (19-13) advances to a 7 p.m. Friday regional final against top-seeded Benet (31-1). The defending state champion defeated Romeoville 52-36 in the other semifinal.
Junior guard Travis Brown led the Blackhawks with 11 points. Junior center Jordan Weeks added eight.
Junior guard Kris Mporokoso paced the eighth-seeded Warriors (17-14) with a game-high 13 points, while sophomore forward Kyler Payne added 11.
“Too many turnovers hurt us late in the game,” Waubonsie coach Andrew Schweitzer said. “We knew (Martinez) could shoot the three. We just had a partial breakdown on the baseline.
“And he made a good shot.”
It’s been finding the good from the bad for Martinez, who was pitching in a game for West Aurora last March 29. He was chasing a pop fly when he collided with one of his infielders.
“It was just a lack of communication,” Martinez said. “He slipped and went into my left knee. It was really scary. My whole leg went numb. It was just something you can’t really describe how it felt.
“Rehab was really tough, but I had a lot of help from my family, physical therapy trainer and the trainers here at West.”
Martinez pointed out that he suffered tears to his ACL, PCL and MCL as well as his meniscus. Following surgery on May 1, he was told he could be sidelined 12 months for rehabilitation.
Although he was cleared to return on Jan. 1, four months early, his comeback has featured fits and starts along with inconsistent playing time.
“We’ve been waiting all year for him to knock some shots down,” West Aurora coach Mike Fowler said of Martinez. “It’s been a long time coming. We know he can knock down shots.
“But coming off that catastrophic injury has been tough.”
Martinez, who came off the bench Wednesday, hit a 3-pointer at 2:11 of the first quarter. It was the team’s only score as the Blackhawks faced a 9-3 deficit after eight minutes.
A 23-8 run in the second quarter — featuring another 3-pointer, a steal and an assist by Martinez — gave the Blackhawks a 26-17 halftime lead.
They were ahead 33-31 after three quarters. Another 3-pointer by Martinez to open the fourth was disallowed when a referee ruled he had stepped out of bounds before the shot.
His second steal came later in the quarter. His winning shot was bolstered by Brown’s free throw for the final margin.
“I got my rhythm back and I just knew that last three was going in,” Martinez said. “It felt great off the hands.”
Brown and Martinez had good chemistry last season.
“Maybe (Wednesday night) was just a lot of adrenaline,” Brown said of his running mate. “He stepped up, made shots and looked like he did last year. He looked back and better. We’ve been waiting for that. It feels great.”
“Abe came to play,” Fowler said. “He stepped up and got the job done for us.”
