Team effort lifts St. Charles North
Basketball games are often determined in the fourth quarter.
St. Charles North (1-0) proved that point during Tuesday night's 63-51 season-opening victory over Plainfield East (0-1) in the 58th annual Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament at St. Charles East.
The North Stars opened the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run to turn a 44-44 deadlock into a 54-44 advantage.
While forcing 4 Bengals turnovers in the first 3 minutes, the North Stars' 10-0 surge included baskets from 5 different players in 4 different classes - freshman Luke Scheffers, sophomore Tyler Nubin, juniors Cade Callaghan and Kyle King, and senior Anthony Delisi.
"That's a beautiful thing," North Stars coach Tom Poulin said of his team's balance. "We have our guys who we kind of lean on but everybody is expected to be able to contribute. We really do believe in all 15 guys. These kids can all play and they push each other every day."
King, a 6-foot-5 forward, paced the North Stars with 20 points and 13 rebounds while 6-3 junior Eric Larsen added 17 points, including three 3-pointers.
"That's a nice game from Kyle (King)," said Poulin. "I thought Eric (Larsen) knocking down a couple threes in the first half was big getting us comfortable. It also opened things up for Kyle."
Delisi added 7 points, 8 rebounds and a game-high 11 assists for the North Stars, who enjoyed a 41-34 rebounding edge that led to a commanding 44-8 points in the paint advantage.
"That's huge," said King. "Defense and rebounding wins games."
"I was really happy with our defense and rebounding," added Poulin. "We made a commitment to defense. That is a good shooting team. It makes it harder to guard people when you can't help."
St. Charles North led 32-30 at halftime thanks in part to 22 combined points from King (12) and Larsen (10).
Plainfield East, fueled by senior guard Vinny Tarello (17 points), grabbed a 44-41 lead on a putback from sophomore Yamani Shareef (15 points) with 2:15 left in the third quarter before the North Stars tied it a minute later on King's 3-point play.
From there, the North Stars outscored the Bengals 19-7.
"I think the difference down the stretch really was our defense," said Poulin. "We took a couple quick shots when they were running and kind of played into their hands but nobody lost their composure."
"It was exactly what we wanted - to come out strong in the fourth quarter and not let them come back," added King.
Callaghan chipped in with 6 points and 4 rebounds while Scheffers added 5 points in his high school debut for the North Stars, who take on Metea Valley (0-1) Wednesday night.