St. Charles North survives defensive struggle
PONTIAC - Colin Nelson finally found the range for the St. Charles North boys basketball team Thursday afternoon.
Mired in a defensive struggle in first-day action at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament against New Trier, the North Stars found some breathing room when Nelson connected on consecutive 3-point field-goal attempts early in the fourth.
St. Charles North never trailed again after the second Nelson 3-pointer in a 38-32 victory over the Trevians.
"Like we heard in the locker room (from the coaches), it was the worst shooting performance of our careers," said Nelson, who finished with 8 points. "We beat a very good basketball team with our worst shooting performance of the season. I think we kept going one (defensive) stop at a time."
The North Stars are 10-1 after enduring extended offensive dry spells against New Trier.
St. Charles North captured a most peculiar game as the team missed all 12 of its 3-point attempts other than the two makes by Nelson in the fourth quarter.
The North Stars did not score from the field to start the game until Nelson converted a one-handed runner in the lane six minutes into the contest.
But Connor Linke came alive to bridge the two opening quarters as the senior post had three straight field goals - the last two on tip-ins - to spearhead the North Stars' attack.
Neither team could find any rhythm for the game offensively.
It left the two coaches baffled.
"I didn't second-guess any shot we took," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. "We just couldn't make any of them."
"I thought we had tons of opportunities to win that game," New Trier coach Scott Fricke said. "We just couldn't make any shots."
St. Charles North finished 14-for-42 for 33 percent from the field; the Trevians misfired on 26 of 38 field-goal tries for a .316 clip.
The North Stars led 18-13 at the intermission, only to have Emmett Burnside connect on back-to-back 3-pointers for New Trier to begin the third quarter.
New Trier (6-7) was soon in the lead as the North Stars endured another scoring drought that lasted until Christian Czerniak had a driving score to tie the game at 21-21.
New Trier held a precarious 22-21 lead when the fourth quarter began.
Czerniak followed the Nelson 3-pointers with important conventional field goals as the senior guard led both teams with 12 points.
"We decided to stay in our primary and secondary break in the fourth quarter," Czerniak said. "I just attacked and got to the rim."
Linke finished with 10 points and a game-high 7 rebounds.
John Carragher paced New Trier with 10 points.