Hill, Naperville North too much for Glenbard North

The Naperville North student section was decked out in its finest tropical attire Friday, but it was the Huskies' John Hill who heated up the gymasium.

Hill, a 5-foot-10 junior guard, opened the second quarter on a personal 14-0 run that featured four 3-pointers as Naperville North built a 21-7 lead and never looked back in a 62-44 victory over visiting Glenbard North.

Hill finished with a personal-best 16 points.

"I hadn't even been in double figures before," Hill said. "We moved the ball side to side really well. That's how I got open. My teammates helped me. I got more open shots and that's all there was to it.

"It felt good to finally start making shots," he added. "I didn't shoot well at the York tournament. I love the rims here."

Trailing by as many as 15 points at 39-24 with 2:24 remaining in the third quarter, Glenbard North made one final push to get within 40-32 on a three-point play by 6-6 senior forward Kibet Chepyator 36 seconds into the fourth quarter.

But Naperville North's Mitch Lewis answered with his own three-point play 12 seconds later and the Huskies continued to extend the lead by making 9 of 12 free throws over the final 4:48.

Lewis led Naperville North (9-4, 3-2 DuPage Valley Conference) with 18 points.

"We definitely changed our mentality," Lewis said. "Obviously, we didn't meet expectations with those four losses early in the season. There were a bunch of articles saying we were favored to win the DVC and all the stuff. I would say it got to us little bit. We thought it would just be a walk in the park.

"Obviously, it's not," he added. "But there's definitely something changing around here. We just have to play hard. You can't be mad if you lose and you play hard. But if we play hard and have fun, the sky's the limit."

Hill finished with 16 points and Tyler Carlson contributed 9 points for Naperville North. Chepyator led Glenbard North (8-6, 2-3) with 19 points and 5 rebounds and Myles Moore added 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Although Naperville North is not conceding winning back-to-back DVC titles, Lewis said the Huskies' focus is putting together a nice run heading into the postseason.

"Winning back-to-back DVC titles is a great goal of ours, but we're just trying to build for the future," he said. "We had a great season last year and didn't do well in the playoffs. We're just trying to become steady and consistent and be ready to go deep into March."