Schauer, Wheaton North find their range
It took Wheaton North more than four minutes just to attempt its first shot of the game.
But all it took was one to get the Falcons going.
Behind Jacob Schauer's six 3-pointers and game-high 23 points - including his team's first points of the night - Wheaton North's boys basketball team rallied for Friday's 40-36 DuKane Conference victory over Wheaton Warrenville South in front of a sellout crowd in Neibch Gymnasium.
Eight of the Falcons' 12 field goals were 3-pointers, highlighted by back-to-back 3s from Schauer and Garrett Horner that put Wheaton North (7-4, 4-0) ahead to stay at 32-27 with 2:39 left in the fourth quarter.
"It's been a while since we've gotten them, and we've always had the belief that we can," Schauer said. "Just to have the confidence going into that game was huge. I can speak for myself, it's a huge burden off of us that we could finally get it done. It's been a little bit."
WW South (7-3, 2-2) led for most of the first three quarters, twice leading by as many as 7 points including 21-14 midway through the third quarter on Matt Scherrman's bucket. The Falcons stormed back in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter behind four 3-pointers from Horner and Schauer.
Scherrman gave WW South its last lead at 27-26 with 4:14 left in the game. That turned out to be the team's final field goal until Joe Ives nailed a half-court shot at the buzzer to account for the 40-36 final.
"We struggled defensively in the second half," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "That's as poorly as we've lost shooters, but that's on me more than it is on them. You can't let Schauer or Horner get the looks they did."
Deng Reng and Horner scored 6 points for the Falcons, who have won five straight games. Scherrman had 11 points while Jeff Kratz scored all 8 of his points in the first half. Ives scored 7 points.
"When adversity hits in that kind of environment, it can go one of two ways," said Falcons coach Dave Brackmann. "I was really proud of our guys for staying together."
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