St. Charles North upsets Jacobs in OT
It would have been easy for St. Charles North to think, "Here we go again."
Instead, the North Stars just got going again.
Jacobs sophomore Nikolas Balkcom swished a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer in regulation, tying the game at 42 against a St. Charles North team that just lost to St. Charles East on JT Ford's buzzer-beater.
This time the North Stars quickly regrouped. After falling behind early in overtime, Jarod Karom nailed a 3-pointer to put the North Stars ahead to stay. Griffin Hammer followed with a short jumper from the baseline, and St. Charles North sank 6 of 8 free throws in the final 1:33 for a 53-46 upset win over Jacobs (18-5).
"That's when you kind of go, 'Really? This is going to happen again? How many times can this happen?' But we were tough," North Stars coach Tom Poulin said of Balkcom's shot.
"That's a game I'll remember for a long time. That's a game people around here aren't going to forget for a long time. That's a good win for us."
St. Charles North (5-13) fought back from a 9-0 deficit to start the game. By the end of the first quarter the North Stars were within 11-8 and at halftime trailed 19-17 after scoring the final 7 points of the second quarter.
Mikey Schroeder opened the second half with a 3-pointer giving the North Stars their first lead. There were 8 more lead changes after that as the teams battled through a back-and-forth final two quarters and overtime.
Schroeder (13 points), Hammer (13), Karom (12) and Kyle King (11) all scored in double figures, the second straight game the North Stars have done that.
"Our record is pretty bad so every day we have to work on getting better," Schroeder said. "That's what we've been doing. We were thinking déjà vu again like East, at least I was. Griffin said we have another quarter to play, let's finish it out, and that's what we did."
Leading 34-30 after Hammer began the fourth quarter with a 3-point basket, the North Stars fell behind 36-34 on back-to-back 3s by Loen Nelson and Balkcom. Hammer scored inside over 6-foot-9 Cameron Krutwig to tie the game, and Karom took a dribble handoff on the North Stars' weave offense to drive for a 38-36 lead.
Krutwig, who led both teams with 19 points and 13 rebounds, had a steal and breakaway dunk for a 38-38 tie with 2:05 left, then split free throws to give Jacobs a 39-38 lead.
King put the North Stars in front 40-39 at :30 on an inside bucket, and Karom's 2 free throws gave the North Stars a 42-39 lead with 10 seconds to go.
Jacobs misfired from 3, but Mason Materna grabbed the rebound and alertly passed out to Balkcom in the corner who stepped back behind the line and drained the tying 3 just before the buzzer.
"It felt really good but it means nothing now," Balkcom said. "We just couldn't hit shots."
Jacobs made just 1 of 5 in overtime to finish a 17-for-45 night (37.7 percent). The Eagles sank just 6 of 24 of their 3-point attempts.
"You have to put the ball in the basket," Jacobs coach Jim Roberts said. "Wide-open looks. Guys are going to crowd Cam and it's a shooter's dream. You have to make shots. Our kids know it and are frustrated."
Hammer added 11 rebounds and 2 blocked shots for the North Stars who won their second straight game after a 6-game losing streak.
"They weren't pouting about anything. They were ready for another 4 minutes and it showed," Poulin said.
"I thought we executed our game plan defensively pretty consistently. Over the course of the game our kids got smarter on how to defend what they were doing. Offensively we shared the ball enough that eventually we got a good look."