St. Charles North reverses last year's losses to Saints
Christian Czerniak took a wack on the nose late in the first quarter, prompting him to briefly leave Friday's game.
That packed left nostril couldn't stop the St. Charles North senior. Czerniak put up his first 20-point game of the season to help pace the North Stars' 66-53 victory over St. Charles East.
North (9-1, 3-0 DuKane Conference), winners of six straight games, is off to what is believed to be the program's best start to the season heading into next week's Pontiac Holiday Tournament.
The North Stars also reversed the result of last year's Saints' season sweep. The packed nose was no matter to Czerniak.
"I just kept it in there because I was shooting pretty well, so I didn't want to ruin it," Czerniak said.
Czerniak, however, was soon quick to deflect some praise to his teammate, point guard Luke Scheffers, who finished with 18 points and six rebounds.
"He got in the teeth of the defense almost every single time up the court," Czerniak said. "Made the right reads, played great basketball. Really, I got open shots as the result of him getting in the paint and making good plays."
Scheffers, like a good point guard, dished credit right back.
"[Christian's] so capable of this [type of] night," Scheffers said. "I think he doesn't get enough credit that he deserves. This guy is one of the best players I've ever played with. I mean, he is so phenomenal of a player and I think it shows on the scoreboard that he's capable of playing good basketball just like anybody else."
The Saints (5-3, 2-1) put themselves in favorable positions by frustrating North's frontcourt of Bradley recruit Connor Linke (three points, six rebounds) and Thomas Kellen (three points, five rebounds), who were in foul trouble nearly all game. Linke picked up his fourth foul with 2:20 left in the third quarter.
The Saints pulled within 48-44 as the third quarter drew to a close, but were unable to pull together a scoring run late. Scheffers hit a pair of free throws to make it 62-52 with 1:11 left, and then Czerniak closed the quarter with four of his own.
Ethan Marlowe and Max Love, both North Stars sophomores, stood out in relief in stretches. Love hit a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter, while Marlowe added some muscle defensively and six points in the contest.
"We were 10-of-18 from the free-throw line," Saints coach Pat Woods said. "The ones we missed are [at] critical junctions. where it makes it a two-point game; instead, we miss two and then [North comes] down and hit a three, now it's like an 8-point swing."
"We did well on the boards; We just didn't shoot the ball well," Woods continued. "I didn't think we ever really got in a good flow offensively. So, credit North and their defense."
The Saints were paced by Chase Monkemeyer's 11 points and four rebounds. Thomas Ditsworth had six points and five rebounds, while Sean Sullivan had eight points.
"This game, we weren't hitting shots," Ditsworth said. "This is definitely the worst we've played this season."