Marlowe's big 4th quarter lifts St. Charles North
Ethan Marlowe admitted he was pressing - trying to force things - a bit in the first half Saturday.
"I needed to take care of the ball better in the first half, definitely be more dominant in the post," Marlowe said. "Tough finishing around the rim more. My shot was on earlier, but I needed to affect the game in the fourth down low."
Marlowe, St. Charles North's 6-foot-8 junior forward, talked before the season about knowing what his role would be in the fourth quarter. He came through Saturday, scoring 10 of his 17 points in the final quarter of the North Stars' 43-38 win at Wheaton Warrenville South in the DuKane Conference opener for both teams.
Marlowe, who also had 6 rebounds, finished well at both ends of the court.
"As a core leader, just doing anything it takes to win in the end," Marlowe said. "That's our goal: go undefeated in the conference."
The Tigers (3-2, 0-1) took a brief 32-31 lead following a pair of Danny Healy free throws, but Marlowe and Jude Love both made layups and Max Love hit a pair of free throws to surge North ahead 37-32.
Tigers guard Parker Brown swished a 3-pointer with 1:20 left, which was answered by Nick DeMarco's two free throws. Yonatan Algawerash's 3-pointer pulled WW South within 39-38 with 57 seconds left, but Jude Love hit a layup and Marlowe free throws to fend off the Tigers, who led by four entering the fourth quarter.
"We did the same thing Tuesday (late) against Larkin where we established ourselves as being competitive," North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. "The other team makes a run, and it's back and forth; but we've closed both games so far this year. We've closed both of them well.
"I thought we were more composed down the stretch than we were in the middle part of the game. The start of the game and the end of the game, I felt like we were composed. But, the middle, we kind of lost our mind a little bit, and they do that to you. They do that all the time."
The team composure during timeouts by North (2-0, 1-0) was evident to Poulin.
"In timeouts, I'm kind of getting on guys and telling them what to do," Poulin said. "The calmest people in the timeouts were my players. That's a good sign. That's a real good sign."
Max Love added 11 points and 4 rebounds, while his twin brother, Jude had 6 points with 8 rebounds. Jude Love is still getting his feet wet on the varsity level. DeMarco had 5 points.
"Today, my shot was off so I had to affect the game in other ways," Jude Love said. "My defense, my skip passes, I think those help. I think I bring extra (things) to help my team."
"Credit St. Charles North. I think they shared the ball so well," Tigers coach Mike Healy said. "We have to start shooting it better. That's what's costing us (late). Then these plays are huge at the end, whether we make them or whether we don't make them."
Jaylen Brown had 7 points while Algawerash had 13 points and 3 rebounds to lead WW South. Parker Brown and Tyler Fawcett each had 5 points and 5 rebounds.
The Tigers are still finding their offensive groove in the early going.
"We're in the low 20s or the teens shooting the ball from 3," Healy said. "We haven't been real good in transition, which I believe we can be (better) in both of those aspects. But, when you're not, those last two minutes, every play becomes so, so huge. (North) made more plays than we did."