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St. Charles North drops final game at Pontiac

PONTIAC - After raising expectations with a monumental upset on Thursday, the St. Charles North boys basketball team exited the famed Pontiac Holiday Tournament on a sour note Saturday morning.

New Trier scored the first 9 points of the schools' fifth-place semifinal game and proceeded to completely nullify the North Stars' offense in a 48-31 victory.

The North Stars were unable to score double-digit points in any of the last three quarters after trailing 15-10 against the Trevians at the end of the first quarter.

"I'm not sure what everyone was thinking," said St. Charles North guard Luke Scheffers, who was the focal point of the offense in the first quarter. "We went out there with the expectation to be successful. Mentally we played against ourselves in this game and that's why the score was what it was."

The North Stars (5-8) rallied after a slow start to remain competitive with New Trier through the opening two quarters.

The Trevians (13-2) held a narrow 22-19 lead at the halftime intermission.

But the Trevians' Sam Silverstein and Noah Osher converted 3-pointers for the opening scores of the second half.

Scheffers, who paced the North Stars with 11 points, answered with back-to-back conventional field goals.

St. Charles North inched closer behind a Billy Durocher jumper moments later.

Lucas Heflen would add another field goal for the North Stars in maintaining a sense of competitive balance.

But the Heflen field goal that kept the North Stars within 6 points proved to be a final stand.

Spencer Boehm, who matched fellow senior Ciaran Brayboy for game-scoring honors for New Trier with 12 points, had consecutive field goals to close out the third quarter.

The North Stars' Cpnnor Linke, who played admirably during the entire three-game stretch at Pontiac, had an inside score to start the fourth quarter.

But the Trevians would score the next 11 points of the quarter to take a commanding 19-point lead.

"I felt that we didn't pay attention to detail and execute like we wanted to," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. "New Trier gave us fits. They obviously wanted to win and play for fith place this evening. We came down here to figure out who we are. We have been very inconsistent."

"That's some of the best competition we're going to face all year," Linke said of the North Stars' games against Danville, Simeon and New Trier.

St. Charles North was coming off an emotionally draining quarterfinal loss against Simeon after stunning previously undefeated Danville in first-round play on Thursday.

"I think it was hard to come back and play, but I don't think we showed up to play," Heflen said. "We just need to play better. It's all on the guys and not the coaches."

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