St. Charles North 51, Fremd 44

The St. Charles North boys basketball team is one of the hottest in the area -- and there was no slowing the North Stars down Saturday.

With a season-low 4 turnovers and a strong pressure defense, the North Stars beat host Fremd 51-44 in a nonconference game.

A day after shooting 30 percent in a 1-point win over Lake Park, the North Stars hit 15 of 33 field goals and made 14 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Junior Nick Neari had 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block as the North Stars won for the 11th time in 13 games.

"At the beginning of the season we were just trying to figure out what we could do," Neari said, when asked to explain the team's hot streak after a 2-7 start. "We were trying to figure out who plays where and what role we play. I think once we figured out what are roles were we really took off from there."

Jonathan DeMoss had 12 points, 9 in the second half, and 4 rebounds for St. Charles North (13-9), which led the entire game. Tim Janeway scored 8 and Mike Lefelstein added 7 for the North Stars.

"I think defensively each possession mattered and we played like that," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. "Offensively we were intelligent in the half court sets because we had to see what they were in with the way they were changing defenses."

Zach Hirsch hit his second 3-pointer to give St. Charles North a 14-7 lead three minutes into the second quarter.

A pair of free throws by Fremd sophomore Christopher Klimek cut the North Stars lead to 1, but a 3-point play from Mike Kastel (5 points, 2 blocks) gave St. Charles North a 18-14 halftime lead.

Six straight points from Klimek (15 points, 9 rebounds) in the fourth quarter cut the North Stars' lead to 32-29 with just under five minutes left. St. Charles North responded with a 13-5 run to take a 45-34 lead with 1:20 remaining.

Daniel Bruno led the way with 17 points for the Vikings (8-10) and didn't stop attacking the basket until the final buzzer sounded.

Fremd was without leading scorer Jim Mundt, who hurt his ankle in practice on Tuesday.

"We don't want to use (Mundt's injury) as an excuse but Jimmy has done a real nice job for us," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. "He's really consistent and brings a lot of energy to what we want to do and he's a senior. But I think we needed to execute better with the kids that we had on the floor."