St. Charles North sweeps St. Charles East
A couple dunks and a clean sweep.
Not a bad way for St. Charles North senior Josh Mikes to spend senior night against crosstown rival St. Charles East.
The inside strength of the 6-foot-4 Mikes and 6-7 Kyle Nelson prevailed over St. Charles East on Friday, the host North Stars winning the Upstate Eight Conference River Division battle 63-50.
A three-year starter, Mikes scored a game-high 19 points including a one-handed dunk followed by a two-hander behind the Saints’ press in the last two minutes.
“I’m so excited right now,” Mikes said. “I’ve never lost to them in basketball. That was a personal goal of mine, to not go out the wrong way, to come out with a win and say I went undefeated against our rival throughout my high school career.
“It feels awesome to be able to do that. We were a little shaky at the beginning and they were hitting their shots, but I think we really put it together and we started playing as a family, we played as one.”
As happens in all families, both programs have recently experienced some turbulence, but on Friday it simply boiled down to St. Charles North (14-12, 8-3) establishing the paint while St. Charles East (11-13, 6-5) attempting to thrive at 3-point range.
“For a lot of teams we do have that height advantage, with me and Josh, Sean (Donlevy), Zach (King), all of us, Quinten (Payne) especially, too, against guards,” said Nelson, who scored 14 points with 11 rebounds.
“But we always want to pound it inside and work it outside, so an inside-out game.”
St. Charles East, of course, sought just the opposite. A long deuce by Kendall Stephens, a 3-pointer from Charlie Fisher and two 3’s by Dan Ditusa propelled the Saints to a 17-16 lead after a quarter, though St. Charles North closed fast.
Over the second and third quarters, however, St. Charles East scored 15 total points. St. Charles North grabbed the lead for good when Nelson scored on a putback, scored again inside from a Payne assist, then Tony Neari found Mikes near the hoop for a 29-25 North Stars halftime lead.
“We were one-and-done and at halftime those two (Mikes and Nelson) had 20 points between the two of them and neither one of them had a shot outside of six inches,” said St. Charles East coach Brian Clodi. “That’s disappointing. That’s not why you work your butts off at practice, and show as much film.”
The killer for St. Charles East was the third quarter. Luke Ludke hit a pair of free throws to draw within 32-29 of the North Stars at the 7:28 mark of the quarter. The Saints managed only a Fisher layup over the next six minutes.
“We were switching up between our man and matchup zone (defenses) and I thought we did a good job of forcing contested jump shots and then boxing out and finishing the defensive possession off with a rebound,” said St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin. “That’s what we’ve been preaching, is defense and rebounding will win a championship.”
Meanwhile, North’s Jason Weinzirl and Payne — whose early ball denial on St. Charles East star Stephens helped limit the sophomore to 11 points on the night — each connected for 5 points during the Saints’ six-minute scoreless span. And, again, Nelson ended the quarter with an inside bucket for a 44-32 North Stars lead.
Guard Spencer Motley led St. Charles East with 13 points, but even he was silent, save a couple of steals.
“Just lack of communication and just a lot of scrambling during that third quarter,” Motley said, “and that’s when we need to communicate the most. And that’s where it got out of hand and they started taking the lead.”
After falling behind 50-36 midway through the fourth quarter, St. Charles East did some positive scrambling to rally within 55-46 with 1:52 left on Ludke’s final basket, his 9 points tying Fisher.
That’s when Mikes converted passes by senior Brandon Baymon and Nelson for his victory-clinching dunks.
“You couldn’t script it any better for an ending for him — his senior night, a home game against his rival,” Poulin said.
“He hasn’t lost to St. Charles East as a varsity player, and you can finish with a couple of dunks and a standing ovation. And then to see him in (the postgame meeting) have tears in his eyes, it tells you how much he cares about what we do, and what he’s been a part of.”