St. Charles East beats St. Charles North again
St. Charles North basketball coach Tom Poulin has a fondness for St. Charles East's gym.
"I love this place to be honest with you," said Poulin, who played high school basketball for St. Charles in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
After the North Stars' 72-62 loss to host St. Charles East Saturday night - their second road loss to the Saints in 8 days - Poulin welcomed the idea of playing at a different location.
"This is the first five games - all of them here (at St. Charles East)," said Poulin, whose team dropped to 2-3 overall, 0-1 in Upstate Eight Conference River Division action. "Let's get out and play somewhere else."
St. Charles North stayed close throughout the first quarter (trailed 10-8) but also lost the services of senior guard Jake Ludwig after picking up his second foul with 1:41 left in the opening stanza.
The Saints, particularly speedy senior guard Cole Gentry, feasted on the opportunity.
Gentry scored 13 of his game-high 21 points as the Saints (5-1, 2-0) outscored the North Stars 27-14 in the second quarter and seized a 37-22 halftime advantage.
With Ludwig on the bench, the 5-11 Gentry hit a pair of 3-pointers and contributed 8 points during a 10-0 run that extended the lead to 27-15.
"Luckily, I got the foul call (second foul on Ludwig)," said Gentry. "It changed the whole game. It's tough to lose one of your best players early in the first half like that."
"I thought when we got them into foul trouble, we were able to pull away," said Saints coach Patrick Woods. "We were able to defend and turn them over on pressure after their key guys were out."
The Saints also received a big lift for the second straight night from junior guard Evan DiLeonardi, who started his third consecutive game in place of James McQuillan (concussion). DiLeonardi scored 8 of his 12 points in the second quarter.
"We have a lot of weapons," said Woods. "It's hard to get some kids in the game. McQuillan wasn't able to play tonight - that just shows our depth."
After the game, Poulin seemingly second-guessed his own decision to leave Ludwig on the bench the entire second quarter.
"Maybe you leave him in in that situation but when you believe in your bench and you believe in your depth, you don't," said Poulin. "Until the end of that half, it (deficit) was 6-8 points, which is manageable."
That is, until the Saints rattled off 9 unanswered points in the final 48 seconds, fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers from DiLeonardi and Jake Clodi.
St. Charles East closed the third quarter with a 10-0 run to build an insurmountable 55-33 lead, giving Woods the luxury to rest starters Mick Vyzral (8 points), Jake Asquini, DiLeonardi and Gentry throughout the fourth period.
Senior center Jack Bronec delivered 6 of his 8 points in the third quarter for the Saints, while Gentry added his fourth 3-pointer of the game to go with 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.
"They were going under the ball screen," said Gentry. "I had lots of room to shoot off of the screens and a few of them went in."
Armon Osborne scored 11 of his team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter while Jarod Karom added 9 points for the North Stars, who face St. Patrick today at the Ridgewood Shootout.
"We've got one at noon tomorrow," said Poulin, "so let's see what we're made of."