Wheaton North hands Neuqua Valley the loss
It was no huge shock Wheaton North took its first loss of the basketball season on Friday, but it was nothing the boys longed to repeat.
The Falcons bounced back Saturday to beat Neuqua Valley 72-64 in Naperville. Wheaton North got a personal-high 28 points from Luke Anthony, 20 from Rowan McGowen and salted away the DuPage Valley Conference win by making 15 of 22 fourth-quarter free throws.
“That was our first loss and we responded well to adversity,” said Anthony, the junior guard who hit four 3-pointers and 8 of 13 free throws.
Focusing on rebounding against 6-foot-8 Jacob Cushing, 6-7 Alex Filo and 6-5 Donovan Wells, Wheaton North (7-1, 3-1) banged inside. And after Falcons coach Dave Brackmann called a quick timeout trailing 11-4, offense clicked.
“On the road against a good team you've got to get in the fight early and get some confidence and feel like you can win the game. And we got in it,” Brackmann said.
Neuqua Valley (3-6, 2-3) had Joe Sieger in it, too. The senior guard rang up 22 points whether steaming to the hoop, lofting a floater or hitting a 25-foot 3. Cushing added 13 points, 8 rebounds.
The Wildcats aimed to cover Wheaton North's 3-point shooters and limiting cutters off screens. They succeeded early, leading 18-15 after one quarter, but McGowen, Anthony and Michael Gehl, who scored 10 points, eventually found lanes to the rim.
“We executed our offense,” Anthony said. “Michael Gehl set some great ball screens, really got us open. And we just really moved — passed the ball, swung it.”
Neuqua coach Todd Sutton did not enjoy the Wildcats' defensive technique.
“The reason for (open driving lanes) was lack of help and recover,” said the Hall of Fame coach. “We were just not in tune to what we were doing on defense. We had no interest in helping a teammate.”
Wheaton North didn't take a lead until midway through the second quarter, 24-22, on its way to a 32-28 halftime edge.
In the third quarter Cushing and Sieger started fast then Wells, Ryan Phillips and Andrew Clark chipped in, but a 5-point McGowen flurry helped Wheaton North go into the fourth up 48-46.
Wells' baseline basket had Neuqua within 56-53 with 4:54 to play. A McGowen drive pushed the Wildcats back. Shortly Gehl, Anthony and Matt Giles paraded to the foul line where Wheaton North scored its last 15 points.
“We responded to their little run to start the second half, too, and then we just kind of controlled the game down the stretch, which was great. Really proud of the guys,” Brackmann said.