Cerasoli, Pruitt Storm Past Livingston in Chi-Town

The 24 NBA representatives that came to watch the nation’s top rated point guard Shaun Livingston go head to head with AAU teammate and Seton Hall bound Justin Cerasoli went home with less than they anticipated thanks to the defense of the future Pirate and his West Aurora teammates. Outside of the spotlight, Illinois bound Shaun Pruitt was one of the main reasons for the 62-52 win on Saturday at Northwestern.

West Aurora was extremely active in the first half and hounded Peoria Central with their defense, forcing several turnovers and held Livingston to four points. Cerasoli and Pruitt went to the locker room with a 31-13 lead at the half.

The second half was no different as Pruitt scored in the paint while Livingston played out of position because of teammate DeAndre Miranda’s knee injury that he sustained earlier in the week.

Cerasoli scored 13 points and had seven rebounds in the win but more importantly was the staple behind defending Livingston (16 points). Pruitt had a game high 21 points and eight rebounds to help West Aurora improve to 24-1. Fellow senior Jason Thomas chipped in with 11 points.

Chicago Bulls general manager John Paxson, his brother and Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Jim Paxson and Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge were all in attendance.