St. Charles East stays hot, tops Wheaton Warrenville South
The St. Charles East boys basketball team seems to have extricated itself from the kind of rut in which Wheaton Warrenville South now finds itself stuck.
The Saints had not won 2 straight games since mid-December, but that changed Tuesday with a 53-48 DuKane Conference home win in a game moved up to 4:30 p.m. to beat the impending cold snap.
Senior Cody Mitchell scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and senior Mark Musial contributed 14 points to pace St. Charles East (15-8, 4-5), which defeated West Aurora on Saturday to end a 3-game slide.
"Two good wins in a row," said Mitchell, a 6-foot-7 forward. "I'm just hoping to keep building off it and building off it."
Wheaton Warrenville South (15-8, 4-5), which lost by 19 points at Geneva on Friday, dropped its second straight game and third in four outings.
Seniors Matt Scherrman, Owen Struebing and Jeff Kratz each scored 11 points for the Tigers, who defeated the Saints by 14 points in Wheaton on Dec. 7.
Wheaton Warrenville South coach Mike Healy said there was a noticeable difference in the team's energy level from the first meeting to the second.
"I told them to go back and watch the first game and then watch the second game and you'll see a difference in the bounce in our step," Healy said. "(The early start) is not ideal. It's not a Friday night, but you've got to bring it a little bit. They tried but they didn't have that same bounce. We didn't have it in the Geneva game and we just need to find that bounce."
The lead changed hands 13 times in the first 20 minutes until Musial's third 3-pointer of the game staked the Saints to a 34-33 advantage. They never trailed again.
Musial's shot ignited a 10-0 run that gave St. Charles East the upper hand. Sophomore point guard Luke Matheny drove for 2 of his 8 points, junior Chase Monkemeyer scored a fast-break bucket off a turnover and assist from Mitchell, who capped the surge with a 3-pointer to establish an 8-point lead with 1:13 left in the third quarter.
Monkemeyer made critical contributions in the final four minutes. With the lead trimmed to 4, he sank a jumpshot from the elbow to frustrate the Tigers half-court trap with 3:22 left. He then drew a charge at the other end and later grabbed a key rebound.
"He's probably one of the hardest workers on the team," Musial said. "He does all the little things that are much-needed in a basketball game. He's been that guy all year."
"My teammates kind of pumped me up so I was ready to go," Monkemeyer said.
The Tigers trimmed the deficit to 47-45 on a Kratz drive with 1:45 to play, but Mitchell answered at the other end with a strong inside move.
After a missed shot by the Tigers, St. Charles East senior Nate Ortiz was fouled and sank both free throws to make it a six point game with a minute to play.
After 2 more missed 3-pointers by the Tigers - who shot 7-of-26 from beyond the arc - Mitchell canned 2 bonus free throws with 21 seconds left to give the Saints an 8-point lead.
He then hustled home to beat the cold weather. His plan for two days off with no school?
"I'm going to stay inside, hunker down and watch a ton of films," he said. "That's the plan."