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No rust for St. Charles North in big win over Elgin

After a nine-day layoff the St. Charles North boys basketball team was back at work Friday night and taking care of business.

The North Stars rolled to their fourth straight win 49-26 at Elgin in Upstate Eight River Division action.

Kyle King led North (5-2, 2-0) with a team-high 13 points while Cade Callaghan added a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

"With the long layoff we figured we might be a little rusty on offense," North coach Tom Poulin said. "But it doesn't matter how long you have been off you can always play defense and I was really was pleased with the way we defended tonight. Our goal coming in was to limit them offensively and I thought we were able to do that by keeping them in front of us and keeping them to one side of the court."

The North Stars wasted no time taking control as they scored the first 8 points of the game. King had a pair of baskets in the opening run while Callaghan and Erik Larson each had buckets. Later in the first quarter the North Stars went on an 11-2 run to extend their lead to 19-6.

Callaghan showcased all of his talents on a quick series in the second quarter when he blocked a shot, grabbed the rebound, and scored a layup on the other end as the trailer a fastbreak.

"I am going to do whatever it takes to help the team any night," Callaghan said. "Whether its rebounding, playing defense, or scoring. I thought the whole team played hard. We know we have to come out and play hard in every Upstate Eight game because every team is going to battle hard. So we stepped on the pedal right away and kept it going. The key was the defensive pressure. Good things always happen when we play tough defense."

The North Stars led 24-11 at halftime and continued to pull away in the second half. Callaghan had 6 points in the third quarter, including back-to back baskets in transition that capped an 11-3 run and made the score 35-14.

"I thought Cade played hard from start to finish," Poulin said. "He was in the right spots defensively and ran the floor real well. He's always a hard worker and gives it every he's got."

Elgin (1-6, 0-4) was a little short-handed and coach Mike Sitter shook up the starting lineup. It was to no avail as the Maroons once again struggled offensively and shot just 10 of 43 (23 percent) from the field.

"It was a chance to give some guys a chance to play," Sitter said. "Some responded and some didn't. I thought Tre Morris played really well when he got in the game running the point and Roy Panthier played hard on the defensive end. I thought our defense overall was much better than what it has been lately. But on the offensive end we just did too much standing around and didn't move the ball enough."

Michael Weatherburn and Dan Toolsie had 6 points each to lead the Maroons in scoring.

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