DeDobbelaere helps St. Charles North get past Geneva

Sam DeDobbelaere stays available and engaged for whatever may come his way.

DeDobbelaere, a St. Charles North senior, might only take a few shots per game. But his 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter of St. Charles North's 47-42 victory over Geneva gave a glimpse into why his impact on the court matters - even if it might not pop out on a stat sheet on a nightly basis.

"When it's open, make it count," said DeDobbelaere, who is also St. Charles North's varsity quarterback. "Some players, especially like all-stars, get it done. Others [are] just role players. Just get your job done. You just have to do your job. Just coming in, gotta knock down 3s if you get the opportunity."

North Stars coach Tom Poulin was pretty quick to coin DeDobbelaere a "team guy."

"And a winner," Poulin continued. "He's a quarterback, so he's ready for his opportunity, whether he gets two minutes or 30 minutes. I like that he's confident. I like that all of our guys are confident to shoot when they're open. Because they can all shoot."

Geneva (7-5, 5-5) overcame a seven-point deficit in the third quarter to briefly take a 31-30 lead into the final quarter in large part due to Luke Engebretson hitting three 3-pointers. But the North Stars opened the fourth quarter with a focus and drive that appeared to indicate they had no interest in repeating their first loss to Geneva a few weeks ago.

Jimmy Durocher opened with a layup followed by DeDobbelaere's 3 for a 4-point lead. Durocher then followed with a pair of free throws and Ethan Marlowe split two free throws to extend St. Charles North's lead to seven with 4:35 left.

"Coach really just said 'everyone makes runs, it's part of basketball,'" DeDobbelaere said. "[But], it's how you handle those runs and come back from it is what really decides the game. We were able to just get our defense back, shut them down from the run and take over the game."

Durocher had 17 points, while Marlowe finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds for the North Stars (7-4, 6-4). Max Love had 4 points and 6 rebounds and Nick DeMarco had 10 points and 5 rebounds.

The Vikings rebounded from a scoreless first quarter to claw within 20-13 at the half. Geneva's Nate Valentine, who hit a game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds of the teams' first meeting, heated up from beyond the arc to score 11 of his 22 points in the second quarter.

Engebretson's emergence as a 3-point threat should be a welcome addition to the Vikings as the season winds down.

"He actually hit 13 threes last year in the [state] 3-point contest," Geneva coach Scott Hennig said of Engebretson. "He's a kid that I have to yell at sometimes to shoot the ball because he's a really good shooter. Great game from him, really stepped up. I thought he guarded Max Love [well] too, which I thought he did a nice job."

Whenever Engebretson gets minutes, teammates tell him to shoot.

"Everyone's telling me to shoot, so might as well to make the most of it," Engebretson said. "We got a lot of plays that have different [shooting] options. So, I'm always there ready to catch and shoot if Valentine is not open or Quin or something. So, I'm always ready for the ball."

Brian Wrenn added 4 points and 5 rebounds for Geneva.