Laurenzo, Naperville North come from behind to beat Wheaton North

For more than three quarters Friday the Naperville North boys basketball team battled a fierce undertow, in the form of a deficit created by Wheaton North.

And then in the fourth quarter, Ryan Laurenzo came to the rescue.

The 6-foot-4 senior guard scored 10 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, including a clutch 3-pointer from the left arc with 1:35 to go, and then a layup off a steal after the Falcons countered with their own 3-point basket 40 seconds later.

That effort helped the Huskies come all the way back from a deficit that ballooned to 14 points in the second quarter to record a 57-55 DuPage Valley Conference victory. The Huskies improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the DVC.

"Ryan is a Division II athlete, football-wise," Naperville North coach Jeff Powers said. "He's got that first step that's pretty quick and he made some nice moves there, I think, and nailed that 3, an ice-vein shot."

"Obviously, the stakes were high, and I kind of had to take it to my teammates in a big way, and so I took on that role," Laurenzo said. "Along with my teammates, we got it done."

The Falcons (1-5, 0-2) showed early they meant business, fashioning a 19-2 run to end the first quarter with a 21-9 lead. By the 5:59 mark of the second quarter, the lead was up to 27-13 and Wheaton North looked to be on cruise control. But the Huskies responded with a 12-1 run of their own, with 7 points coming from 6-foot-6 junior forward Tom Welch, who led all scorers with 23 points.

Another run at the end of the third quarter, an 8-1 spurt punctuated by a layup off a 3 miss by senior guard Mason Biegalski, put Wheaton North up 42-35 with 7:38 to go.

That was when Laurenzo took over. He put together a 5-point run by himself, thanks to a layup off a 3-pointer miss by Welch at 6:46, and a layup off a steal 15 seconds later. His 3-pointer at 1:35 increased the lead to 52-47, and then after a counterpunch 3 by Wheaton North junior guard Jacob Schauer, the play of the night occurred with 55 seconds to go.

Naperville North inbounded and drove the ball almost to midcourt before turning it over. But Laurenzo was in the right place at the right time, stole the ball back and laid it in to give the Huskies a 54-50 advantage.

"After that 3 I thought we were in a good spot," Laurenzo said. "When we got that steal and a layup, I thought we sealed the deal. We had confidence the whole way through."

Added Welch: "People leave him open and I don't know why. He's a knockdown shooter."

The hard-luck Falcons, who lost their fifth straight, put three players in double figures. Junior forward Deng Reng scored 16 points, Schauer had 14 and senior forward Josh Sorenson added 12. But they shot 38 percent, including 6 for 14 in the fourth quarter.

"Tough one to swallow there," Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann said. "This has been sort of our year so far. We've played a super-hard schedule, and we've been a little inconsistent. A couple of questionable shots, a few turnovers, and all of a sudden, we've been letting teams off the hook."