Huskies' Hasse continues hot streak

Whichever direction Naperville North's Jake Hasse turned his ankle last month, it appears to be working quite nicely for him and the Huskies boys basketball team.

Hasse continued his torrid play since returning from an ankle injury, scoring 22 points Tuesday night in leading Naperville North past Plainfield Central 53-41 in Plainfield.

The 6-foot-3 senior has racked up 85 points in his four games following the injury, good for a 21.3 points-per-game average.

Seventeen of Hasse's game-high 22 points against Tuesday's nonconference foe came in the second half as the Huskies fought for separation in the third quarter.

A 13-2 run immediately following halftime gave Naperville North a 40-30 advantage, the largest lead held by either team to that point.

"I knew that after the first half I just needed to concentrate a little bit more," said Hasse, who scored 13 of the Huskies' 16 third-quarter points.

"I knew my guys would still keep confidence in me, so I just had to keep confidence in myself."

With 4:26 remaining in the game, Hasse found a streaking Austin Weiss for a layup that produced a 43-34 lead for Naperville North (7-12).

Wildcats senior Mike Bumber's breakaway dunk with 1:26 left cut the Naperville North lead to 8, but the Huskies had burned enough clock to comfortably put the win away.

"We had them chasing us and we had the doubt in their mind," said Naperville North coach Mark Lindo.

"It seems like there's been so many close games that we didn't finish where there's been a key turnover or a key foul shot missed, and I thought we were able to really seal the deal (by hanging on to the ball)."

Offensively, the Huskies are finally finding that an assist can be just as satisfying as a made basket.

"It was excellent as far as the selflessness we played with," Lindo said. "I think what I've seen from our guys the last couple weeks is we're having just as good a time getting an assist as we are getting a bucket with each other.

"When you start to etch toward that mentality, you start to feel like you've maybe turned a corner."

Plainfield Central (4-13) held the Huskies to just 21 percent shooting from the floor in the first half, yet didn't come out after halftime with the intensity to keep itself in the game.

"Our guys didn't match their intensity," said Wildcats coach Josh Virostko.

Four third-quarter turnovers contributed to the 11-point swing in Naperville North's favor.

"Next thing you know you're down by 10," Virostko said. "Those little windows are the difference between setting the tone the whole second half or being behind the whole second half."