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St. Charles East improves in win over Schaumburg

A strong start was just enough for St. Charles East's basketball team Wednesday night.

Building an 18-5 lead over Schaumburg (0-2) after the first quarter, the Saints (2-0) were still holding on to a double-digit lead with less than 2 minutes remaining when things began to get interesting.

After James McQuillan's driving layup upped the Saints' lead to 58-46 with 1:39 left, the Saxons went on a 10-2 tear, closing the gap to 60-56 on a layup by Marquis Woodard with 16 seconds remaining.

Following a timeout, the Saxons stole the inbound pass but misfired on a 3-point attempt that would have trimmed the deficit to 1 with 7 seconds remaining.

Senior guard Cole Gentry, who scored a game-high 20 points with 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals, swished a pair of free throws in the final seconds to help preserve the Saints' 62-56 victory during the third day of the 56th annual Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament.

"It's the early season," said Saints coach Patrick Woods when asked if he was concerned with his team's play down the stretch. "It's typical. There are things we need to work on. If we were playing our best basketball right now, I'd be worried but this group has such a huge potential.

"I thought we did better than we did on Monday (79-71 win over East Aurora)," added Woods. "I thought defensively we were a lot better."

St. Charles East limited the Saxons to 22 percent (2-for-9) shooting from the field in the first quarter while connecting on 3 of its 6 3-point attempts.

The Saints also received a big lift from 6-8 senior center Jack Bronec, who scored 6 of his 12 points in the opening period.

"That was his best game as a varsity player," Woods said of Bronec. "I think we're going to see a lot more of that. The better he gets, the better we get."

Bronec, who saw limited playing time as a junior, was happy to get involved early.

"It builds my confidence once I see a couple (shots) fall in," said Bronec. "I feel real comfortable and I've got a lot of trust in the team."

"I thought he was really good tonight," said Woods. "That's what I expect from him. He deserves it, too, because he works so hard."

Jake Asquini and McQuillan added 9 points apiece as the Saints connected on 8 of 22 of their 3-point attempts.

Woodard paced Schaumburg with 11 points, while Jason Schoo and Brendan Parker had 10 points each.

"Throughout the game, we didn't play great defense," said Saxons coach Marty Manning. "I thought our help defense was poor and that gave them a bunch of open looks.

"We definitely have issues we need to fix like every other team," added the coach.

St. Charles East will take on state-ranked St. Joseph (2-0) Friday night.

"I can't wait," said Woods. "It's a great test. It's the best team in the state with three Division 1 players. It should be a fantastic atmosphere."

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