advertisement

St. Charles East stays hot at DeKalb

Just because the boys of St. Charles East scored 102 points Monday in the Saints' first tournament game at DeKalb didn't mean they were going to come in Tuesday all loosey-goosey.

"The great thing about this team has been they're ready to play the next day," St. Charles East coach Patrick Woods said Tuesday. "How good we play or how bad we play, it's a clean slate. They're not buying into the hype."

Yet the hype will continue after St. Charles East, the No. 1 seed at DeKalb's 87th annual Chuck Dayton Holiday Classic, pounded eighth-seeded Sterling 89-46.

The Saints, looking to win their first DeKalb title since 1997 before the split between St. Charles East and North, advanced to a tourney semifinal at 8 p.m. Friday against Glenbrook North, a 67-56 winner over Marmion.

It wasn't enough that Cole Gentry knocked down 3 first-quarter 3-pointers and Jake Clodi hit 4 in the first-half, the floorboards between the wing and right corner probably still smoldering from where he launched them.

"I do like it," Clodi said of that spot.

"It's nice to have guys beating their guy off the dribble and kicking it to the perimeter, and you've got guys like me and (Jake) Asquini who knock it down," said Clodi, who scored a team-high 16 points.

St. Charles East (10-1) led 24-12 after one quarter, 45-26 at halftime and was yet to be satisfied.

"From day one of tryouts Coach said we're going to score a lot of points, but to win games throughout the year you've got to play defense. And if not, they'll definitely tell us," said James McQuillan, who notched 11 points to join Clodi, Mick Vyzral, Gentry and center Jack Bronec all in double figures, the second straight day St. Charles East landed five players with at least 10 points.

So after leading by 19 at halftime St. Charles East forced 11 turnovers in the third quarter, including a Vyzral pluck, a Gentry pickup and behind-the-back pass to Vyzral for the layup and 57-28 lead.

Sterling (5-2) fell behind 68-30, enabling Woods to start the fourth quarter with his second unit and beyond, including 6-foot-4 freshman Justin Hardy, who capped the Saints scoring with 44 seconds to play.

Sterling guard Juan Gomez exploded for 9 of his 11 points in the second quarter to tie forward Dimitric Young for team honors.

St. Charles East considered 6-foot-1 Sterling Thornton the Warriors' top threat. He was McQuillan's assignment, and the Saints' 6-foot-4 junior held Thornton to 7 points on 3-of-9 shooting.

"Coach has been emphasizing second-half defense, not letting up on teams," said McQuillan, who made 5 of 6 shots and blocked 2 shots.

"Stay in front of your man, play pressure defense and if you get beat you know there'll be someone there to help us out," he said.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.