St. Charles North almost beats Simeon
PONTIAC - Colin Nelson had perhaps his defining moment as a member of the St. Charles North boys basketball team Friday afternoon.
The North Stars' guard calmly drained a 3-pointer with three minutes and 30 seconds to play to forge a tie against legendary state power Simeon in the second quarterfinal of the Pontiac Holiday Tournament.
It was only the second deadlock of the game as the first came after the schools exchanged 3-pointers for their opening field goals.
But the second tie did not last very long as Antonio Reeves' long-range gunnery stepped to the forefront one final time for Simeon.
It did not bode well for St. Charles North when the Simeon senior guard opened the game with three consecutive 3-pointers.
Reeves' fourth 3-pointer of the contest proved to be the ultimate difference as the 22-footer broke the second tie; Simeon withstood some tense moments in its aftermath but held on for a 56-52 victory.
St. Charles North will play New Trier (12-2), which had its nine-game winning streak decisively snapped by second-seeded Curie in the first quarterfinal, in the fifth-place semifinals on Saturday morning.
"It made everybody else (on the team) feel great," Nelson said of his baseline-left 3-pointer that knotted the game at 51-51. "Every single time (Reeves) had an answer."
With two of the Wolverines' best players missing in action due to injuries, Reeves scored half of the Simeon points with a game-high effort of 28.
But there was no quit in the North Stars.
St. Charles North had three chances to tie or take the lead in the waning minutes.
A costly turnover, however, and twin missed shots from the floor spelled doom.
"We put ourselves in position to win," St. Charles North Tom Poulin said. "We made some mistakes down the stretch."
After admittingly beginning the game with their worst defensive showing of the season in falling behind by 15 points, the North Stars irreversible altered the potential outcome with field goals from beyond the arc by Lucas Heflen, Nelson and Christian Czerniak on consecutive possessions to close out the second quarter.
Suddenly, the North Stars trailed only 33-27 at the break.
"Basketball is a game of runs," Simeon coach Rob Smith said. "We knew they were going to make a run. That's a good team over there. They can shoot the ball and are well coached."
St. Charles North (5-7) fell behind by double digits again, but Heflen scored 7 straight team points to begin the North Stars' second uprising that Nelson capped with the ninth 3-pointer of the game for the team.
Heflen had 14 points to lead the North Stars.
"Overall, it shows the character that we have," Heflen said.