Ludwig lights up West Chicago with 28
A Tuesday school night can't match the atmosphere of a weekend boys basketball game.
Still, St. Charles North had an early spark and it was sufficient to hold off host West Chicago's second-half burst. Getting 28 points from Jake Ludwig and 19 from Mike Schroeder, the North Stars won the Upstate Eight Conference River Division contest 60-46.
"It's a Tuesday, but you've got to come ready to play every game in the Upstate Eight. They're a good team, they gave us everything they had. We just had to battle at the end there," said Ludwig, who tied his career high set last year in games against St. Joseph and West Chicago.
St. Charles North (5-4, 3-1) played a clean first half, only 2 turnovers while posting a 36-17 halftime lead.
"A Tuesday night on the road in the conference you could come out and maybe start slow and then have to get on them at halftime," said North Stars coach Tom Poulin. "I was worried about lack of energy but I guess I shouldn't be, these kids play hard. I thought we came out with good energy."
Both Schroeder and Ludwig made three 3-point baskets in the half, Ludwig scoring 17 points in the first 16 minutes with forward Griffin Hammer adding 8 of his 9 points to double up West Chicago (2-5, 2-3).
Ludwig said the game plan was defensive intensity, and though St. Charles North forward Jack Callaghan didn't score, a rarity for the 6-foot-3 senior, he grabbed 9 rebounds and held West Chicago's top scorer, Mikey Bibbs, without a first-half point.
That changed fast following West Chicago coach Bill Recchia's timeout after Ludwig keyed an 8-2 North Stars run out of halftime.
"There's no magical formula, no magical words that you say in a timeout," said Recchia, a 1983 West Chicago graduate. "It's just the kids actually stepping up and start playing the way they can play."
Bibbs scored 11 straight points to bring the Wildcats within 46-30 after three quarters. Then Peter Dolan and Mikey and sophomore brother Tai Bibbs combined for 9 straight points to trim the deficit to 46-39 with 4:38 to play.
A David Pozna basket stopped the run, St. Charles North pushed it back to 52-39 and West Chicago couldn't cut it under 10 again. Schroeder hit 6 free throws and Ludwig 2 more in the last 1:42.
Mikey Bibbs led West Chicago with 13 points followed by Ricci with 11, Dolan with 10.
"We came out really slow," Bibbs said, "and like the last couple games had to fight back in the second half - which needs to change, because we need to have that same mental strength we have in the second half in the beginning of game."