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St. Charles East rolls over East Aurora

St. Charles East boys basketball coach Patrick Woods realizes his team will have a much different look come state tournament time next March.

As for the present-day moment, things remain a bit rough around the edges despite the Saints' season-opening 58-40 victory over East Aurora Monday night during the first round of the 58th annual Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament at St. Charles East.

"Rough would be an understatement," said Woods while scanning the final statistics. "Twenty-one turnovers - we have a long way to go."

After committing 15 first-half turnovers and shooting just 25 percent (6 for 24), the Saints (1-0) trailed 19-17 at the intermission.

Some of the early rough patches were to be expected considering 2 of the Saints' 5 starters - Zach Mitchell and Jack Zylke - had limited practice time after the football team's extended playoff run.

"Two weeks of practice and three of our main guys (Mitchell, Zylke, Clayton Isbell) practiced two or three days," said Woods. "Another thing we've got to remember is we're a really young team. Even our seniors - only Mitchell logged big minutes last year."

Another multisport athlete, senior soccer player Kevin Cook (14 points), came off the bench to provide instant offense for the Saints.

The first of Cook's two 3-point baskets late in the third quarter snapped a 27-27 tie and gave the Saints the lead for good at 30-27.

Less than a minute later, he drained another 3-pointer from the corner and earned an assist on an inbounds pass that 6-5 junior Justin Hardy turned into a layup as the Saints led 35-29 after 3 quarters.

"He did a nice job," Woods said of Cook. "We definitely needed it."

Another corner 3-pointer by Cook midway through the fourth quarter extended the Saints' lead to 47-38. St. Charles East pulled away late, ending the game on a 14-2 run.

Hardy paced the Saints with 22 points, 15 rebounds and 3 assists, while junior guard Zach Robinson added 11 points and Zylke contributed 8 rebounds and 5 steals.

"I thought Jack was great tonight," Woods said of Zylke. "He was a presence inside and played within himself - something a lot of our guys did not do."

"A big part of it was the football players just getting back," said Hardy. "It was great that they made a nice run in the playoffs but they missed a week of practice so it took a while to get back into things.

"The first half was ugly but we picked it up in the second half."

Nasir Phillips scored 10 points for the Tomcats (0-1), who shot just 3 of 26 from beyond the arc.

"My main two shooters went 1 for 22," said East Aurora coach Wendell Jeffries. "I don't think we're going to have too many games shooting 1 for 22."

Michael Stewart added 8 points for the Tomcats.

"I was very impressed with how hard we played, especially in the first three quarters," added Jeffries.

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