No tournament title, but Naperville North still impressed

With a boys basketball tournament title on the line, Oswego's veterans came up big against a younger Naperville North squad Friday night.

But even with a 50-46 loss in the Hoops For Healing championship game, the 3-1 Huskies showed plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the new campaign. Two tall, veteran players are expected back from injuries next month, but for now a team filled with a several juniors and one sophomore starter fared pretty darn well in its first week of action.

"I don't think we were expected to win three games this week and it feels great to do it," Naperville North junior guard Winston Elston said after his 16-point effort Friday night in Oswego. "We're a young team with a lot of juniors … we just need that extra little push and we can win some more games."

That push should come when 6-foot-6 Mitch Lewis and 6-4 EJ Vaughn return, but for now Elston and the rest of the Huskies have played well together. After winning their first three contests at the tourney, Naperville North led the Panthers 41-36 early in the fourth quarter after an inside basket from sophomore Chris Johnson.

The game was later tied 44-44 with 3:14 left to play before Oswego's pressure led to a few late turnovers that gave the title to the host Panthers (4-0).

Elijah Winston scored to give the Panthers a 46-44 lead and a steal by Brice Robinson with 1:22 left to play led to Jaylen Jones' baseline layup that helped Oswego pull out the contest.

"We were hoping that our defensive pressure hopefully would eventually wear them down," Panthers coach Matt Borrowman said. "We got a few turnovers late. I give Jeff (Powers) and Naperville North credit. His kids are tough as nails. He's also got a program that's tough to play. We just got lucky to score two more baskets tonight. That's what it about boiled down to."

The Huskies led 13-8 after one quarter and 26-23 at the half as Camaron Hardy led the way with 8 points through two quarters. Naperville North still led 39-36 after three quarters before the Panthers used a 14-7 advantage in the final quarter to prevail.

"Our kids competed very, very hard," Powers said. "I just told them from the summer to now, we've got to learn how to finish a game that's a championship game. When we figure that out it will be good."

Senior guard Malique Ross paced the Panthers with 17 points, while fellow seniors Conor Morton and Robinson each tallied 9 points for the champs.

In the third-place game, Naperville Central improved to 3-1 with a 58-44 defeat of Hinsdale Central with Harrison Hallstrom scoring 23 points and Matthew Meir 21.