Naperville North defense stifles Waubonsie Valley
In a zone literally and figuratively on Friday, Naperville North hopped into the driver's seat of the DuPage Valley Conference boys basketball race.
The Huskies allowed Waubonsie Valley 9 points by halftime in a 44-27 victory in Aurora. Naperville North senior Tom Welch scored 22 points with 6 rebounds and anchored a 2-3 zone defense the Huskies played nearly exclusively, holding the Warriors without a second-quarter field goal and 9 overall.
Naperville North (12-8, 4-1) plays only three more DVC games. Waubonsie Valley (18-3, 3-2) had beaten the Huskies 51-38 while Welch was in Florida for an All-America soccer exhibition. He's an award-winning, three-time state champion goalkeeper as well as a 6-foot-7 Loyola basketball recruit.
"I was really hoping they could win it but they didn't," Welch said of that Nov. 30 meeting. "Coming back, it's my only opportunity to play (Waubonsie), so I was going to give it everything I've got."
Welch scored early on a pair of putbacks while Waubonsie stuck within 10-7 through the first five minutes. Riley Thompson's 3-pointer kicked off a 14-2 Huskies run into halftime, Naperville North leading 24-9.
Between the length of Welch, 6-4 Grant Johnson and 6-4 Netzah Aldana, the positioning of Myles Barry and the quickness of Thompson, Mike Imhoff and Zeke Williams, Waubonsie Valley had trouble finding shots. The Warriors went 0 for 9 in the second-quarter.
"We did a lot of trimming-the-edges 3s, which wasn't in the game plan," said Waubonsie guard Derrien Porter, whose 5 points followed Eric Cannon's team-high 6. "It really set us back a little bit, so our focus was really to get into the middle and it was tough to get in there."
That was Naperville North's plan.
"The key was just keeping the ball out of the middle and then contesting all shots and making sure we finished the defensive possession with a rebound," said Barry, who credited trainer Jason Majchrowski with getting him onto the court from a tight lower back.
Shooting 19 of 29 for the game, Naperville North made its first 4 shots of the third quarter and Welch scored 8 third-quarter points to pace a 38-24 lead entering the fourth.
A Welch dunk off a Barry assist, Barry's backdoor layup from a Welch pass and a Johnson putback pushed it to 44-24 with 5:11 to play.
"They're very disciplined, they run off their screens well, they played their zone really well. They're very good, and they kicked the crap out of us tonight," said Waubonsie coach Jason Mead.
Naperville North coach Gene Nolan liked the defensive grit on enemy turf.
"They're a difficult cover defensively for us, and I thought our kids dug in a little bit and I was really proud of our effort," he said. "Any time you go on the road in this league and win, we feel very fortunate to have done that - because Waubonsie Valley's a great team."