Naperville North holds off Wheaton North

Naperville North won its regional opener in the fourth quarter Tuesday night at Naperville Central, but that's not to say Wheaton North gave anything away.

Naperville North held on for a 57-51 victory.

The fifth-seeded Falcons took a 43-37 lead into the final quarter after Ben Bonga came away with a steal and pushed the ball up to Garrett Horner for a bucket at the buzzer of the third quarter. Instead of taking a final shot and maybe closing the gap to two, No. 11 Naperville North was looking at a 6-point hole heading into the final eight minutes of the Class 4A regional semifinal.

But that's when the Huskies put together one of their best quarters of the year, featuring big stops on defense and great execution on the offensive end of the floor.

"We've been in a lot of close games against very good teams," said senior guard Riley Thompson, who led his team with 21 points. "The games in the season are sort of practice for this (postseason). And since we had so much practice with it, it's just been very good for us."

Thompson had a fast start and hit a trio of 3-pointers in an 11-point first quarter that ended with his team on top 17-14. But the 16-15 Falcons led 30-25 at the half behind five 3s from Garrett Horner and then looked in great shape with that 43-37 lead after three quarters. But Horner, who had a game-high 24 points, was blanked by the Huskies defense in the fourth quarter.

"I thought our kids fought hard. Wheaton North is good, and they're physical and strong and they're so well-coached," Huskies coach Gene Nolan said. "To be able to beat a team like that, it takes a lot. So I'm happy for our kids and glad to be coming back to practice tomorrow. That's a tough win."

It was a total team effort down the stretch for the victors, who advance to Friday's regional final against Naperville Central, which knocked off Bartlett 53-39 in Tuesday's earlier semifinal. Thompson and his mates clamped down on defense, Liam Kim made 5 of 6 free throws in the second half, Myles Barry powered his way to three big baskets inside late in the game, and a perfectly executed possession stretched a 1-point lead to a 54-51 lead in the final minutes while also ticking off more than a minute.

"We were just very fortunate to have won," said Barry, who scored 9 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and added the key assist on the long possession that led to an open Peter Krebs layup and that 54-51 lead with 44 seconds left to play. "We know Wheaton North is an incredible team. We knew we needed our best effort of the year to win tonight.

"We just made some shots down the stretch, made some free throws and most importantly got some stops that we needed to close out the game."

Asked about his three power moves for buckets late, Barry calmly replied: "I just think that's what the team needed of me, a senior. I wanted to practice tomorrow. So I just did whatever I could to help our team win. I'm just so happy. That (long possession) was huge. We could have had a couple shots there but our guys were smart. We made sure we got a great one. We took some time off the clock and most importantly got the basket by Peter. I think that was a turning point in the game."

Ben Bonga joined Horner in double figures with 12 points and the Falcons had just four turnovers all night, but in the end the Huskies were just too on in the final quarter, in which Naperville North closed out the game with a 20-8 run.

"It was definitely a great high school game. This team all year long has battled. Tonight it was back and forth and back and forth. We didn't hit some shots down the stretch and they executed," Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann said. "I guess the story there is that they won the game. I don't think we necessarily lost it. They just took it from us."