Suddenly, senior guard Nathan Scearce found himself alone in the spotlight for Bartlett.

In a stunner, fellow senior guard Kelton McEwen transferred to Wheaton St. Francis. It turned Scearce into both the Hawks’ top offensive option and lone returning starter.

Big changes, huh?

“Last year, I didn’t have to bring the ball up, and now it’s my job every day,” Scearce said. “It’s more pressure, but I also get to take more shots, so it’s better for me.”

Scearce couldn’t have looked better Friday. He scored a career-high 33 points to go with seven assists and four steals in a 77-71 Upstate Eight Conference win over East Aurora.

Drew Cwik added 14 points for Bartlett (2-5, 2-1) and Brendan Campbell had 13.

Jalen Bealer led a frantic comeback for East Aurora (2-5, 2-1), scoring 29 of his game-high 34 points in the second half. All-state football star Kenneth Cooley added 13 points.

McEwen played with Bartlett over the summer, so Scearce didn’t have time to work on being the main option. Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith has been impressed with his progress.

“Nate’s been tremendous,” Wolfsmith said. “From the minute we found out Kelton was leaving, Nate’s been nothing but a great leader in the offseason, in lifting, in workouts.

“You see him taking care of the ball and running the point for us. That would have traditionally been a role that he and Kelton would have split. To handle the ball like that and still find time to put up 33 points, really impressive on his part.”

Wolfsmith was quick to point out Scearce wasn’t the only player affected.

“When you lose one of your mainstays, one of your intelligent, knows basketball kind of kids that can kind of calm people down in the craziness, everybody has to change their role,” Wolfsmith said. “Everybody has to step into those spots.”

As the only returning starter, however, Scearce saw his role transform dramatically. He said that makes the little things even more important than usual.

“It just started in practice with me bringing the ball up all the time,” Scearce said. “It’s preparing me for games because I’m getting face guarded.”

Campbell, who’s in his first varsity season, has seen the work Scearce puts in.

“Nate’s a great player,” Campbell said. “He’s really stepping into that point guard role very well. He works really hard, and he’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever seen.”

Campbell and Scearce fueled an 18-0 run at the start for Bartlett. Campbell scored seven points and Scearce added six. East Aurora started out 0-for-19 from the field but clawed back into the game.

Bartlett led 69-48 midway through the fourth before Bealer scored 13 points to fuel a 21-6 burst that got the Tomcats back into things.

“It’s East Aurora-Bartlett, man,” Wolfsmith said. “I expect nothing less.

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“We had to hold on down the stretch. Part of that is (Bealer) did a phenomenal job on his end matching Nate, playing with pace, knocking down jump shots, playing with energy. He’s a heck of a player.”

It was the first time the Hawks faced pressure down the stretch like that this season. While it wasn’t always pretty, they did hang on and win.

“It definitely feels good,” Campbell said. “We started out hot in the first half, skidded a little bit in the second half. We really came together as a team, I thought.

“Just to pull that out felt amazing.”

Scearce feels the win is all a part of the team’s growth.

“We’re a younger team,” Scearce said. “We’ll get better with more experience.”

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.