Wheaton North 72, Glenbard North 54

Glenbard North left it all on the court, and the Panthers' James Fleming had a hot hand in Friday's DuPage Valley Conference game against Wheaton North. But in the end the better team won.

Wheaton North (14-5, 6-2) won 72-54 over a scrappy Glenbard North (3-15, 2-6) team, getting a career-high 34 points from John Bagge and using defensive pressure to pull away late.

"In the DVC everyone always comes out to play," Bagge said. "They went on a couple runs, and we were just able to push ahead in the end."

Bagge also led all players with 12 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and has been putting up consistently exceptional performances for Falcons coach Jim Nazos.

"That might be one of the better games of his career," Nazos said. "You saw what he did offensively, but defensively he's playing as well as he ever has."

Starting one senior, three juniors and a sophomore, Glenbard North led 12-8 after a quarter of play. Panthers fouls piled up in the second to put the Falcons in the bonus, and Bagge wore out a path to the free-throw line, where he went 11 of 13 in the quarter, 15 of 18 for the game.

The Panthers only trailed 28-25, however, hitting shots and making the Falcons earn every basket.

"We had to have a great effort on defense, play as hard as we possibly can and make them make plays," said Panthers coach Erin Dwyer. "And it helps to have (Fleming) go off for however many points he had in the third quarter."

The sophomore guard scored 15 third-quarter points that included two 3-pointers, a few inside baskets, and a few more midrange jump shots. Fleming scored with 23 points before fouling out early in the fourth quarter.

Wheaton North led 50-42 after three quarters of play, and it was still anyone's game.

"They played well," Nazos said of the Panthers. "They created some things, and thank god Fleming didn't play in the second quarter like he did in the third."

Three-pointers from Kristian Rosenberger and Steve Pierotti put Wheaton North up 57-42 in the fourth quarter, and the Falcons used defensive pressure for fastbreak points in pulling away from there.

"In the second half I thought Steve (Pierotti) did a real nice job of handling the ball," Nazos said. "Dave (Pilalis) made some good decisions on the break, and Tom (Fitzpatrick) had some big blocks for us."

"It was a team win. (Bagge) was on the end of a lot of plays, but I saw some good team things tonight."

-- Gary Larsen

WW South 54, West Chicago 38:ŒHeading into halftime of their game, both Wheaton Warrenville South boys basketball coach Mike Healy and West Chicago coach Kevin Gimre stressed the importance of beginning the second half with substantial energy.

Thanks to the Tigers' Sam Carlson, Wheaton Warrenville South out-energized the Wildcats en route to a 54-38 victory in Wheaton.

Carlson scored 9 of his 14 points in the third quarter as the Tigers doubled their 7-point halftime lead.

"We didn't have enough energy in the first half, so we brought it out with a lot more intensity in the second half," Carlson said. "We attacked the rim more, changed up our defense a little and just went from there."

Rebounds began bouncing Wheaton Warrenville South's way in the third quarter as a byproduct of taking their effort to the next level. The Tigers (12-6, 4-4 DuPage Valley Conference) outhustled West Chicago on the glass, earning a 15-3 advantage on the boards in the third quarter.

"We played a little bit better defensively, (and) we got the offensive boards," Tigers coach Mike Healy said. "I thought we had a little bit more energy in the second half, but we've got a lot of work to do."

One of the areas Healy hopes to improve upon is his team's defensive footwork. The Tigers committed more than 20 fouls, sending West Chicago to the free-throw line 21 times.

Wheaton Warrenville South extended its lead to 47-28 midway through the third quarter, forcing the Wildcats to extend their pressure defense. The home team made good on their opportunities at the free-throw line, going 17 of 19 for the game.

"We've been stressing (free throws) a lot lately," Carlson said.

"Starting off the year we weren't too good, and we've just been practicing and practicing, and we've been much better lately."

West Chicago (1-18, 0-8) felt good about its chances at halftime, entering the locker room facing just a single-digit deficit. Despite the game getting away from the Wildcats in the second half, Gimre felt encouraged about the effort put forth by his squad.

"We needed to have a lot of energy, and I think for the most part the kids did," Gimre said. "Sure we had trouble scoring, but in terms of the effort, that's what I liked."

Wildcats junior forward Tyler Wrzesinski led West Chicago with 11 points, while sophomore Chad Driscoll chipped in with 10. Tigers forward Kendrick Perry tied Carlson for game-high honors with 14.

-- Matthew McClarey

Timothy Christian 59, Wheaton Academy 37:ŒTimothy Christian and Wheaton Academy went in completely different directions in the second half.

The Trojans caught fire, while Wheaton Academy couldn't buy a basket as Timothy Christian went on to rout the Warriors 59-37 in a Private School League game.

The game was tied 19-19 at the break when Timothy decided to score in streaks in the final two periods. In the first half the Trojans shot 8 of 22 but quickly turned things around in the second half, shooting an impressive 15 of 24 from the field.

"We have to work together as a team," Timothy forward Vince Williams said. "We need to get everyone involved and get the best shot available. We did that extremely well in the second half."

While the Trojans (10-12, 3-3) were burning up the nets, Wheaton Academy struggled just to make a shot from the field. In the second half the Warriors shot 2 of 13 with their first basket coming on a 3-pointer by Timothy Streets with 1:21 remaining in the game. Streets hit another 3-pointer 30 seconds later to have both of the field goals for the Warriors.

The Warriors (12-5, 3-3) mustered just 13 shots in the second half because they were in the bonus for the final two minutes of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter, shooting 12 of 17 from the free-throw line.

Wheaton Academy coach Paul Ferguson said he will need to watch game film of the second half to find out exactly what happened.

"That was the worst half we have played all season; I don't know what I said to them at half," Ferguson said. "We just struggled offensively. They did a nice job defensively against us and we didn't do a good job stopping them in transition."

Timothy coach Jeff Powers said that it was nice to see his team shoot extremely well in the second half. That was something it has not done all that well this season.

"Our defense has been keeping us in ballgames all season long," Powers said. "It was nice that we were able to hit some shots and pull away in the second half. Our shooting hasn't been great, so maybe this will get us on a roll."

Ben Euler led the Spartans with 15 points in the loss.

Jaaron Holmes and Williams led Timothy with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

-- Jason Watt

Driscoll 73, St. Edward 61:ŒJake Lindfors had 29 points and 18 rebounds as the host Highlanders (15-7, 8-2) claimed the Suburban Catholic Conference victory. David and Steven Schwabe added 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Montini 70, Immaculate Conception 58:ŒAlex Blashewski nailed 10 of 11 free-throw attempts and scored 20 points as the visiting Broncos (9-12, 4-7) pulled out the Suburban Catholic Conference win. Dex Jones tallied 16 points and Anthony Blashewski had 14 points.

Brendan Ryan led Immaculate Conception (8-11, 4-7) with 20 points. Antonio Taylor scored 13 points, while Kevin Koch pitched in with 12 points.

Ridgewood 52, Fenton 42:ŒGozie Umeadi scored 17 points for the visiting Bison (9-11, 4-2), who surrendered a 27-15 fourth-quarter run to the victorious Rebels. Damian Sieradzki added 10 points for Fenton.