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Naperville North rolls past Neuqua Valley

On a night when Naperville North honored its senior basketball players in front of a full house before cruising to a 64-49 defeat of Neuqua Valley, the biggest cheer of the evening occurred 10 minutes after the game had ended.

That's when the Huskies learned that Metea Valley had defeated Lake Park, a result that gave Naperville North its first DuPage Valley Conference championship since the 2011-12 season, taking the title outright.

Afterward, Naperville North coach Jeff Powers admitted that he had made plans for a postgame celebration, which included his jubilant players cutting down the nets.

"You don't win conference championships that often, so we celebrate all victories and this was a great victory," he said. "When you saw the Valleys coming into the conference and how tough the Wheatons are, you knew it would be tough, but I knew we could play."

It's a surprise none of the Huskies burned their fingers as they cut down the nets like they singed the twine all game, shooting 54 percent from the field, including 8 for 15 from 3-point range. The key stretch came in the third quarter as Naperville North (19-4, 12-1) matched Neuqua 2-point baskets with a 3 from Winston Elston and 2 from Camaron Hardy. Then, as time was running out in the period, Tyler Carlson lost the ball, but Hardy hustled to the sideline, retrieved the ball and, as he was headed toward a seat in the student section, turned and found Carlson in the corner, who buried a 3-pointer for a 52-36 lead.

"They were wide-open 3s and they don't miss those," said Neuqua coach Todd Sutton. "I told them afterward that we need to look at Naperville North, how easy offense gets. They're moving the ball, passing the ball, unselfish; they were just playing H-O-R-S-E against us."

Actually, it was the Wildcats (9-16, 5-8) who got off to the hot shooting start as Ryan Phillips and Joe Sieger swished 3-pointers in the first four minutes to open an 8-3 lead. But after that promising start, the Wildcats missed their final 13 3-point attempts on the night.

Meanwhile, the Huskies showed off their enviable depth as several seniors who don't typically see a lot of court time started the game with Steve Wade and Colin Hassett hitting 3-pointers and combining with Jelani McClain for 10 points as Naperville North took a 16-12 lead after one quarter.

"In the first quarter our seniors who don't play a lot came out and played great," McClain said. "We're just trying to win games."

With the starters back for the bulk of the second quarter, Naperville North steadily expanded its lead, with Mitch Lewis and Carlson contributing 3-pointers, Chris Johnson and Elston adding a pair of buckets apiece and McClain recording a steal and layup at the buzzer as the Huskies took a 34-25 halftime lead.

After that it was just a case of making sure the scissors were sharpened.

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