St. Charles N. rolls by Prairie Ridge

Quinten Payne found a favorite spot on the floor — and his St. Charles North teammates made sure he got the ball.

Payne, a 6-4 junior guard, put on a scintillating shooting display with 22 second-quarter points while helping lift the North Stars (5-8) to a 71-44 victory over Prairie Ridge (3-8) Thursday afternoon at the Jacobs Holiday Basketball Classic in Algonquin.

The Loyola recruit made 6-of-7 field-goal attempts and all 7 of his free throws in the second stanza on the way to a game-high 24 points.

During a 1-minute stretch late in the second quarter, Payne knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers from virtually the same exact spot on the floor against the Wolves’ 2-3 zone, as the North Stars built a commanding 43-24 lead.

“I really haven’t been shooting the ball too well this year but Tony (Neari) got me the ball in some easy spots,” said Payne. “He saw that I was feeling it from that spot so he got me the ball.”

Payne’s hot hand was a welcome sight for North Stars coach Tom Poulin.

“If he’s shooting the ball well, I feel you’re not going to guard him because he can get to the lane so well,” said Poulin, whose team evened its tourney record at 2-2 heading into today’s 3 p.m. clash with Mundelein.

“He’s taking what the defense gives him,” Poulin added of Payne. “When they (Prairie Ridge) backed off, they were giving him open looks. He has really put a lot of time in working on his jump shot. You could see that really throughout this whole tournament.”

Senior center Kyle Nelson (22 points) got the North Stars rolling with 12 first-quarter points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field, thanks to solid entry passes from Michael Schroeder (5 points), Kyle Swanson, Neari and Payne.

“When he seals people to the weak side, we have our guys look for it,” Poulin said of the 6-foot-8 Nelson. “It’s kind of unconventional but when you have the size advantage like that, it’s actually a good pass. We wanted to start out inside-out. We thought that would open everything else up as far as perimeter looks.”

The North Stars were also successful at picking up the pace against the Wolves, who had allowed an average of just 39 points in their first 3 tournament games.

“You’re not going to force them to play at your pace but we wanted to have them play quicker than they wanted to,” said Poulin. “I thought when we went to our pressure that sped them up a little bit, and it also gave us some confidence.

“We had a lot of first-quarter energy instead of coming out in a funk and allowing the game to be played in the 40s.”

The North Stars also did damage at the free-throw line, where they connected on their first 25 attempts before finishing 29-of-31. Payne and Nelson were a collective 17-of-17 at the foul line.

“We’ve been hovering around 50 percent for the year,” Poulin said of his team’s foul shooting. “Since the Larkin game, we’ve increased the amount of time we spend on it.”

Sean Valentine led Prairie Ridge with 17 points.