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2013-14 Season Review in pictures and music. ENJOY!

The "Ice-Man" strikes again for the North Stars

So much for taking it easy on the interim coach.

Filling in for St. Charles North basketball head coach Tom Poulin, who was in Florida attending to a family matter, Rob Prentiss faced a major decision during Tuesday night’s nonconference clash with Kaneland.

After calling a timeout with 8.5 seconds remaining and the score tied at 59-59, Prentiss decided to let senior guard Alec Goetz have a crack at breaking the deadlock.

“Basically it’s give it (the ball) to our best player,” said Prentiss. “We’ll live and die with him.”

Goetz produced a clutch 3-point play with 1.2 seconds remaining to help lift the North Stars (15-7) to a 62-59 victory in Maple Park.

“Coach (Prentiss) thought if I got the ball at the top of the key they probably wouldn’t help on me,” said Goetz, who poured in 8 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter as the North Stars rallied from a 30-26 halftime deficit.

“Luckily, I came through,” said Goetz.

“We felt confident with the ball in Alec’s hands and he delivered,” said Prentiss. “He has worked really hard on his game. Every year he has come back and he’s got another element to his game.”

Prentiss was happy that his team escaped with the hard-fought victory after trailing by as many as 5 with 5 ½ minutes remaining.

“It’s kind of what I expected,” said Prentiss. “The last week, I’ve watched them play several times on the computer. Brian (Kaneland coach Johnson) does a heck of a job with those guys. I knew they would be tough to beat on their home floor.”

Johnson took the blame for his team’s defensive strategy on the North Stars’ final possession.

“Goetz made a great play,” said Johnson. “I feel like I made a mistake at the end not trying to get the ball out of his hands but we had something else drawn up. I wasn’t ready for him (Goetz) to just hold on to the ball the whole time.

“Drew (David) is a real good defender,” added Johnson. “It just so happened that there was a little contact and they (referees) called it on the shot.”

Tyler Carlson’s 3-pointer put the Knights (13-9) up 51-46 with 5:39 left before a pair of baskets from the North Stars’ Erik Miller (10 points) trimmed the deficit to 53-52 with 3:22 remaining.

After Cole Carlson (8 points, 6 rebounds) hit a pair of free throws to make it 57-54 with 2:32 left, Goetz provided a hint of things to come when he drained a coldblooded 3-pointer 12 seconds later to tie it at 57-57.

“They kind of solved our zone (defense) there for a while so I finally had to go to man,” said Prentiss. “That seemed to bother them enough so we could squeak by at the end.”

Jack Callaghan had 19 points and 9 rebounds while Jake Ludwig added 11 points and 6 assists for the North Stars, who played for their head coach.

“Tom’s dad is very ill — he’s having surgery this week in Florida,” said Prentiss. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Tom and his family.”

“We had to do it for Coach Poulin,” said Goetz. “He’s going through some family stuff right now. It felt good to finish it like this.”

Tyler Carlson and Drew David had 17 and 14 points, respectively, for the Knights.

“They’re a good team and I’m glad we came out and gave them a good game,” said Johnson. “We’re very lucky that St. Charles North would want to play us since they’re a bigger school. It only helps us out for tough conference games down the stretch and for the tournament.”

St. Charles North tops Richwoods

 

The Richwoods boys basketball team suffered its second loss in a row Saturday, falling 87-66 to St. Charles North at the Hoops for Heroes event at Kaneland.

Jack Callaghan scored 18 points to go with nine rebounds and four assists for the North Stars.

Trailing 42-34 at the break, the Knights' chances for victory were hampered in the third when Jake Ludwig scored 11 straight to stretch the North Stars' lead to 64-43.

Kaelen Johnson and Javeer Ross each scored 14 points to pace Richwoods, which fell to 12-11 on the season with the loss.

Ludwig finished with a game-high 19 points for St. Charles North (15-7), which got 17 more from Alec Goetz.

Larkin tops St. Charles North to clinch share of UEC River title

The casual observer might have looked at composed Larkin leaving the court quietly Saturday at St. Charles North and thought the Royals had won simply another Upstate Eight Conference River game by holding off Alec Goetz, Erik Miller and the Stars, 62-55.

When the Royals got to the locker room, though, the celebrating really began.

 “Almost breathtaking,” Royals senior forward Brayden Royse said. “It’s crazy.”

A strong second quarter and quick start in the third, a 20-point night from Kendale McCullum and a 13-point, 13-rebound game from freshman Christian Negron proved enough to earn the Royals (18-3, 9-0) a three-game UEC River lead with only three left. So they clinched no worse than a share of their second straight River title.

“We celebrated in our locker room,” Negron said. “We wanted to keep it inside, ourselves. It’s a big accomplishment.”

McCullum recalled how Larkin went 4-26 his freshman year and each season has gotten gradually better under coach Deryn Carter.

“So it feels good knowing we brought Larkin back,” McCullum said.

Carter liked seeing the celebration after he sat back in the hall a few minutes first to catch his own breath following a strong finish by St. Charles North (12-7, 6-3).

“We’ve got three home games,” Carter said. “You’ve got to win one. Our guys, you could see it in their eyes. They don’t want to win one. They want to win all three. It’s still not ours alone.”

It became at least half theirs largely because Royse, who had nine total three-pointers on the year, hit three in the second quarter alone, and Negron got inside for three buckets then while the Royals defense dominated for eight minutes. They held North to 2-of-12 shooting in the quarter, and Negron blocked two shots.

Up 17-15 with 5 1/2 minutes left in the first half, Larkin closed with a 15-5 run ending with Royse’s trey at the buzzer.

“I can usually hit them in practice,” Royse said. “Usually we have shooters who go out and shoot, but today was my turn.”

It went from bad to worse for North as Larkin’s Drew Jones made two free throws before the third-quarter clock started running because North’s Garrett Johnson got a technical foul for dunking in halftime warmups. So Larkin got the ball back after the T and showed North what a real dunk looks like: Negron completed the alley-oop play on a pass from McCullum and it was 38-20.

“I thought we made a lot of mistakes that weren’t forced,” North coach Tom Poulin said of Larkin’s 17-7 second-quarter edge. “I thought the game was won and lost in the second — even though it’s never actually won or lost in the second.

“We strung together a couple mistakes defensively and made some poor decisions offensively as far as shot selection, and then they went on a run. You can’t do that against one of the best teams you’ve seen all year.”

North got no closer than five, 56-51, in the closing two minutes with its strong finish, making 16 of 35 from the floor the second half. Goetz and Miller each had 14 total points for North, which is in the same regional with Larkin.

“It could have been better, but I guess we handled the pressure,” McCullum said.

St. Charles North boys basketball edges Elgin, braces for Larkin

ELGIN – Thursday’s boys basketball game between St. Charles North and Elgin ended with North point guard Alec Goetz harmlessly clutching the ball near midcourt.

Nothing flashy for the North Stars, but nothing nightmarish, either.
Elgin beat the buzzer in each of the first three quarters of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division game, staying pesky throughout. In their first action in nearly two weeks, the North Stars took a 70-61 win and exhaled.

“I think that it’s a function of us not playing for a while,” North guard Jake Ludwig said. “We were getting tired of practicing against each other, trying to get stuff out of our system. We definitely have got to get that better for Saturday and Larkin. I’m glad we won, though.”

Ludwig laid out the bottom line for North – which hosts conference-leading Larkin on Saturday – moments after being blunt with his own play down the stretch.

Elgin (7-12, 3-5 UEC River) erased an 11-point halftime deficit at the end of the third quarter and was trading punches with North until Ludwig took over. After Isaiah Butler banked in a 3 to tie the game at 61 with just less than three minutes to go, Ludwig scored the game’s final nine points.

“I just told myself I don’t want to lose,” said Ludwig, who finished with 16 points. “I decided it’s time to start playing. Got to get this win.”

Goetz (19 points) and forward Jack Callaghan (13) joined Ludwig in double figures. The extra options were a boon for the North Stars (12-6, 6-2) as the Maroons ramped up their speed and full-court trap after halftime. North shot just 2 for 9 in the third quarter, and was outscored, 24-12.

Elgin drilled just four of its 17 3-point attempts in the first half, but still had a flair for the clutch.
While the North Stars handled the Maroons for the majority of both opening quarters, Elgin’s ability to beat the buzzer stunted at least a portion of that momentum.

Ryan Sitter trimmed North’s first-quarter lead to five points before Butler (23 points) hit a 3 that pulled Elgin to within 38-27 at the break.

The North Stars struck from distance four times themselves in the first half – on seven attempts – displaying their range, if only to spread the wealth from an effective inside game.

Callaghan contributed 10 points and nine rebounds by halftime en route to finishing with 13 and 14, respectively. There also were consistent spurts of energy from coach Tom Poulin’s big men off the bench, including Camden Cotter and Johnny Davern.

North eventually overtook Elgin with its stamina and a 20-for-23 effort from the free throw line. It all added up to the team’s fifth win in six games, while helping exorcise the memory of the North Stars’ most recent game before Thursday, a 90-55 loss at St. Charles East.

Larkin defeated the host Saints, 64-55, on Thursday. North lost by 15 at Larkin in mid-December and has been itching for its next chance ever since.

“Our kids know Larkin pretty well, and it’s a big game for us. They’re a state-ranked team, and we feel like we can compete with state-ranked teams,” Poulin said. “We need to go out and walk the walk instead of talking the talk. ...

“That’s a big-game environment at home for us, and it’s the toughest challenge in our conference. It’s the toughest challenge in the area. So you can’t ask for anything more. That’s why you play, is to be able to have an opportunity to compete against somebody like Larkin.”

St. Charles East Nails 16 Threes In a Huge Win Against Cross-Town Rival North

What began as a ripple of momentum for St. Charles East to start Saturday’s game against crosstown rival St. Charles North quickly turned into a tsunami.

The points — including 16 three-pointers — just kept coming in waves for the Saints, who avenged an earlier loss by destroying the North Stars 90-55 in Upstate Eight River Division action.

Dom Adduci led the Saints’ three-point assault with five and finished with a game-high 23 points. Zach Manibog came off the bench to get in the act with 14 points, including four threes. Jake Asquini had three treys. In all, six Saints knocked down shots from beyond the arc and 11 scored.

“We have a lot of kids who can shoot the ball,” East coach Patrick Woods said. “The key is ball movement, and I would have to attribute our success tonight to doing a great job of sharing the ball and finding the open shots. That basket just seemed to get bigger and bigger as our confidence kept growing.”

The Saints (11-7, 5-2) scored the first nine points of the game and led 25-8 after shooting 10-of-16 (63 percent) from the field in the first quarter. Adduci set the pace with three three-pointers in the first quarter.

“It’s amazing how we just came out and took complete control of the game,” Adduci said. “We were fired up and wanted revenge from the last time. The shots were falling. I know I am feeling really confident in with my shooting right now and feel like I can knock down shots from any where on the floor.”

Adduci finished the first half with 18 points and the Saints extended their lead to 50-22 at the intermission. There wasn’t much letup in the second half. In fact, East connected on 9-of-13 (69 percent) three-point attempts over the final two quarters.

The Saints led by as many as 39. In stark contrast, the North Stars started ice cold, missing on their first nine threes and shooting just 6-of-20 (30 percent) from the field in the first half.

“East deserves all the credit in the world,” North coach Tom Poulin said. “They have some great shooters and we didn’t do a very good job of stopping them. We let the ball get into the high post way too much and they broke down our defense with their penetration.”

North (12-6, 5-2) falls into a second-place tie with East in the UEC River Division race. Both are two games behind Larkin. Jake Ludwig had 12 points to lead the North Stars in scoring.

Courtesy of Chicago Sun-Times.

Streamwood Gets Pummeled By St. Charles North

The St. Charles North boys basketball team is warming up more and more each game to its matchup zone defense.

The North Stars have played matchup zone predominantly this season and it’s treated them well more often than not. It certainly did Thursday as North plowed past Streamwood, 70-27, in Upstate Eight Conference River play.

“When I first came back from my injury last week, it’s like the whole zone evolved from the beginning of the year,” North senior forward Erik Miller said. “It’s just so strong. We close out on shooters well. We take so much pride in that zone. It took me about a week to even catch up to get on everyone’s level because they just keep getting better at it.”

The North Stars haven’t played this much matchup zone in the past but North coach Tom Poulin said the defense gives North a better chance against higher-end teams that might pose matchup problems if North played man-to-man.

Poulin said he reviewed a DVD on the matchup zone run by current George Mason and former Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, and sprinkled in some of the principles of the legendary zone run at Syracuse under Jim Boeheim.

“We ran it a little bit last year against Larkin in the regional, and the kids loved it,” Poulin said. “We had it in all last year and we used it now and then, and the returning players really liked playing it.”
North (11-5, 5-1 UEC River) won its fourth game in the past six days, and especially in the past two games, the North Stars’ defense has sparkled.

After holding Bartlett to 36 points in a win Tuesday, North was even stingier Thursday, albeit against the floundering Sabres (1-15, 0-6 UEC River).

The Sabres were scoreless in the third quarter and scored 12 of their 27 points when North was deep into its expansive bench in the fourth quarter.

“We need a bigger hoop, I guess,” Streamwood coach Paul Kowalyszyn said. “I don’t know. We had good looks. Missing layups and everything. I told the kids at halftime, I don’t know what else I can tell you. You’re in the right spots. You’re getting good looks – you’re either passing them up, fumbling the ball or you’re missing the shots.”

Poulin is intrigued to find out what kind of adjustments teams make against North’s zone in the season’s final weeks.

“Everyone’s done something different in every game – they’ve attacked it differently,” Poulin said. “Now it’s going to be interesting when you see people for the second time, what they do.”

North made 9 of 14 from 3-point land in the first half, after which it led, 42-15. That was a modest lead compared to the 37-6 bulge at the 2:40 mark of the second quarter after a Camden Cotter 3-pointer.
The North Stars connected on 13 3-pointers for the game, including a 4-for-5 showing beyond the arc for senior Alec Goetz (team-high 12 points). Miller (11) and reserve guard Nathan Didier (eight) were also among the 13 North Stars to score in the game.

North’s fifth game in eight days will be its most anticipated as the North Stars seek a regular season sweep against crosstown rival St. Charles East on Saturday night at East.
“We have to have our best performance on both ends of the floor,” Poulin said. “It’s not just going to be defense or not just going to be offense. We have to have our best performance to beat them at their place, so we’ll see.”