Waubonsie Valley's fast start too much for Naperville North
It seems we're past the "We're just happy to be playing" stage of the protracted Illinois boys high school basketball season.
The talk now is about conference titles, since there is no state series and only two-and-a-half weeks left in the season.
And when it comes to conferences, there might not be a more balanced one than the DuPage Valley.
Case in point: Waubonsie Valley defeated Naperville North 56-40 on Tuesday night. That score might indicate it was a breeze for the Warriors, but look closer.
The Huskies, down 39-17 at the half, outscored the Warriors 23-17 in the second half, thanks to mostly to stingy in-your-face defense and the shooting of senior Jacob Scharm (9 points) and junior Zeke Williams (7).
So if most DVC games are like that second half, what's it going to take to win the title?
"We just have to play disciplined, like we've been playing the last two conference games," said junior forward Tyler Helbing, who paced the winners with 14 points. "At the start of the conference season we weren't playing to our potential, but we really picked up the last two games. So if we stay disciplined and play more as a team, it should be better for us."
Helbing's senior teammate, Ben Schweiger, who scored 12, including a pair of dunks, said confidence is key.
"I think it's really us just giving a 100 percent effort ... as long as we give effort on the defensive end and lock down our opponents, there's no team that can beat us, I feel like," Schweiger said.
Warriors coach Jason Mead, who announced this week that he's stepping down after the season, also got 11 points from senior Isaiah Smith, and watched his squad control the boards 21-9 en route to improving to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in league.
Mead had a simple formula for winning the DVC.
"You can't have off nights," he said. "We had an off-night against DeKalb, so you've got to come ready to play. That's the way this league is right now. You have to be ready to play a lot of different styles in a short period of time."
Naperville North fell to 3-4 and 1-3 in the DVC, but Williams said a conference title is still the end goal, and it's within reach for the Huskies.
"The first game, we're happy to be playing basketball, but now, it's like, we should be looking to win, every game, and win conference," said Williams, who led the Huskies with 11 points. His freshman brother, Luke, added 10.
"It's just competing," Luke Williams added. "We have to go out there and compete. If we don't compete, we're going to get beat."