North Stars can't dig out of early hole

St. Charles North is learning a lot in its first year at the St. Charles East Thanksgiving tournament.

With so many football players in their rotation, the North Stars are learning how to play as a team while getting their basketball legs under them.

And they are getting their lessons against some quality opponents, first East Aurora and then Wheaton North.

Friday night against Proviso East, the North Stars learned you have to be ready to play from the opening tip.

The Pirates scored the game's first 16 points, and that proved to be about the difference in their 72-58 victory.

St. Charles North (0-3) will play Proviso West (0-3) in the seventh place game at 2:30 p.m. today.

"We came out flat," said the North Stars junior Jonathan DeMoss said. "I don't think we were really ready to play. We didn't handle the pressure like we should have."

The North Stars missed their first six shots and committed five turnovers to open the game. Proviso East led 16-0 until Nic Neari drained a 3-pointer with 3:12 left in the first quarter.

"The start was disappointing," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. "I think the rest of the way the kids battled."

The North Stars settled down. They outscored Proviso East 11-4 to end the first quarter down 22-11, then continued pulling closer in the second quarter.

After Mike Kastel scored a basket inside followed by another 3-pointer from Neari, St. Charles North was back within 26-23.

That proved to be as close as the North Stars got. Proviso East built its lead back to 42-33 at halftime and extended to 56-42 after three quarters.

The Pirates shot 55 percent from the field (30 of 54) to the North Stars' 39.7 percent (23 of 58). St. Charles North cut its turnovers down to 16 but a few came at inopportune times.

"We can't make those types of mistakes against a team like that," Poulin said. "It's a good lesson for us."

DeMoss and Neari led the North Stars with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Kastel came off the bench to score 10.