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St. Charles North blows past Streamwood

The St. Charles North boys basketball team showed few signs of any rust on Friday night despite a 13-day layoff. The North Stars didn't miss a beat as they cruised past Streamwood on the road to 63-27 win in Upstate Eight Conference River Division action.

"With some teams you might worry about that long of a layoff," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. "But this group is very driven and focused, so it was not that much of a concern. The offense was a little sloppy as far as timing on some plays, but defensively we played with a purpose and that was good to see."

The North Stars wasted no time taking control as they went on a 13-0 run to start the game. North extended the lead to 34-10 by halftime. Jake Ludwig provided the North Stars with a spark in the first half, scoring 13 of his game-high 16 points.

"We were anxious to get back out and play again," Ludwig said. "We have had some good practices. So we were ready. Strong defense has become our identity and we played it with a lot of intensity tonight."

The North Stars (13-7, 7-2) held Streamwood to just 4 of 25 (16 percent) shooting from the field in the first half.

"This team understands how important defense is," Poulin said. "They play it really well. They help each other in the man-to-man in the half-court and tonight we focused on picking up the ball early and making them work in the backcourt."

The North Stars continued to pull away in the second half. Armon Osborne finished with 12 points. Mikey Schroeder added 11 and Griffin Hammer had 10.

North dominated on the boards with a 37-24 rebounding advantage. Jack Callaghan spearheaded the effort on the glass with a team-high 11 rebounds.

"We like to get out and run and in order to do that we know we have to rebound," Callaghan said. "So we really focus on boxing out and getting the rebounds."

Brandon Marton had 12 points to lead the Sabres in scoring. Cole Seger added 10.

"We had some open looks, but just couldn't get the shots to go in," Streamwood coach Paul Kowalyszyn said. "That's going to happen even with good shooting teams some nights. My bigger concern was our lack of defense. We just let them walk into the lane and we can't have that. We have to get tougher on defense."

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