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St. Charles East wears down WW South

Trailing Wheaton Warrenville South by nine points at halftime, St. Charles East wasn't worried on Saturday night.

With a deep, veteran squad that plays at a frenetic pace, pressuring opponents from tip until the buzzer sounds, the Saints kept their poise, rallying for an impressive 62-49 victory in DuKane Conference action in St. Charles.

"I just think our pace wears people down," Saints coach Pat Woods said. "We talk about that all the time. We know we're going to give up layups, we know were going to give up some open 3-pointers, but if you look at the long-term at that pace, if you're not used to it, and you don't have the luxury of playing (a lot of guys) like we do, I think it wears teams down in the end."

Wheaton Warrenville South (3-4, 0-2) forced 10 first half turnovers and drilled five 3-pointers to build a 32-23 lead. But there was still a lot of game left.

"We talked to our kids about that," Tigers coach Mike Healy said. "It's a tough style to play against that you have to be mentally tough for four quarters, and we were tough for two quarters and not so much in the third and the fourth. I was happy with the way we played in the first half, but we just didn't sustain it."

St. Charles East (5-2, 2-0) closed the third quarter on a 16-1 run to turn a 38-30 deficit with 4:46 remaining in the quarter to a 46-39 lead heading into the fourth.

Scott Breidigan's two free throws gave the Saints their first lead since Zack Clodi's drive in the opening minute of the game.

Tom Ditsworth then made a steal, jarring the ball away and saving it from going out of bounds before laying it and getting fouled to turn it into a three-point play. He followed that with a bucket inside to make it 44-38.

"One more bounce and it was going out of bounds," Ditsworth said. "I had to reach for it and then I saw no one was near the basket. There were a couple of guys behind me but I thought I could take one or more dribbles and get to the basket."

The Tigers pulled to within 46-42 on a 3-pointer from Tyler Fawcett with 7:01 left to play, but they wouldn't get any closer.

The Saints outscored the Tigers 39-17 in the second half.

"It was definitely part of our game plan to bring our intensity the whole game and wear them down and force them to go deep into their bench," Ditsworth said. "We were optimistic at half because we knew we were right there and didn't play badly. It was still anybody's game and it's hard to beat a team for a full 32 minutes with the way we play."

Taking care of business at the free-throw line has become an emphasis for the Saints, especially after it cost them a game against Proviso East in their own tournament at the end of November.

The Saints made 17-of-19 while the Tigers were just 10-of-19.

Chase Monkemeyer (16 points), Ditsworth (13 points), Clodi (11 points) and Aidan Sullivan (7 rebounds) paced the Saints.

"We have a lot of really good players, not superstars in my opinion, but very good players," Woods said. "It's a tight-knit group of nine seniors, kids who believe in what we're doing and like what we're doing."

Parker Brown (13 points, 8 rebounds), Tyler Fawcett (12 points) and Yonatan Algawerash (10 points) led the Tigers.

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