St. Charles North denies Dundee-Crown
Eleven minutes.
If you're a St. Charles North basketball player, those 11 minutes were downright defensive.
If you were on the Dundee-Crown side, those same 11 minutes were filled with frustration.
Holding the Chargers scoreless for 11-plus minutes in the second half, the North Stars (13-17) seized control of a close game and gradually pulled away during their 42-30 victory in Wednesday's Class 4A regional semifinal at St. Charles East.
With the win, 6th-seeded St. Charles North will face 7th-seeded Huntley (18-14) in Friday night's regional championship.
After senior forward Brad Stec's 15-foot jumper tied the game at 24-24 with 5:11 left in the third quarter, a long dry spell ensued for the 4th-seeded Chargers.
Dry as in desert dry.
Dundee-Crown did not score a single point for the remainder of the third quarter - and the first 6 minutes of the fourth quarter until Damarion Butler's 2 free throws with 1:56 left.
Jordan Hairston's driving layup with 35 seconds remaining finally snapped the Chargers' field-goal drought following 16 consecutive misfires.
"It's not any secret - we haven't been a great shooting team all year long," said Chargers coach Lance Huber. "Maybe it was a secret to them (the North Stars) but it didn't look like it the way they guarded us."
St. Charles North used an 11-0 surge during those 11 minutes to secure the win.
"We felt like we could keep them under 40 (points)," said North Stars coach Tom Poulin. "I thought we did a nice job. We tried to identify their players and how we needed to guard them.
"Everybody tonight came out and tried to win the current possession on both ends."
Junior 6-foot-9 center Connor Linke led the way, scoring a game-high 14 points with 7 rebounds and 4 blocked shots standing tall as the last line of defense in the middle.
"Defensively, when we did make a mistake with a closeout or we left our feet on a shot fake, you have him (Linke) back there," said Poulin. "His instincts are very good as a help defender. They have been since he was in middle school. He's a nice eraser back there."
One play in particular echoed Poulin's sentiments.
With his team up 33-24 in the final 3 minutes, Linke raced end to end to block Butler's fast-break layup attempt, thwarting a potential Chargers comeback in the process.
"Every single point counts," said Linke. "I wasn't about to give that one up."
Senior Lucas Heflen added 12 points for the North Stars while junior point guard Luke Scheffers had 9 points and 6-4 junior Thomas Kellen chipped in with 7 rebounds and solid interior defense.
"Everyone came in and did their role," said Poulin.
Senior Josh Raby led the Chargers (18-10) with 10 points.
"They had the big guy (Linke) and we couldn't get him out of the paint," said Huber. "We didn't get much room on the perimeter, either, and we couldn't knock it in.
"The bottom line is we couldn't put the ball in the basket. If you want to win, you've got to put the ball in the basket."