Wheaton North 53, Naperville North 44

Wheaton North had its inside-outside game all wrapped up in one player.

With an entertaining mix of 3-pointers and dunks, 6-foot-8 Tom Fitzpatrick led the Falcons to Thursday's 53-44 DuPage Valley Conference boys basketball victory at Naperville North.

The win allows the Falcons (17-5, 9-2) to move a step ahead in the win column in their race atop the DVC standings with Naperville Central (8-2 DVC) and West Aurora (7-2).

Fitzpatrick knocked down three of his team's four 3-pointers. All of them came in the first half as Wheaton North built a lead it sustained the entire game.

The senior forward also dunked twice, scored a game-high 18 points, pulled down 5 rebounds and had 4 blocks.

With 6-7 John Bagge adding 15 points, the Falcons made sure they didn't suffer the same fate as West Aurora last week -- an upset loss to Naperville North (8-15, 3-8).

"They're a really dangerous team, they've got really big guards, they've got play-makers," Fitzpatrick said. "We knew if we didn't bring our 'A Game' they could smack us."

A 16-5 run was highlighted by an alley-oop dunk pass from Steve Pierotti to Fitzpatrick, a pair of Fitzpatrick 3-pointers and another 3-pointer by Dave Pilalis.

The lead moved to 25-13 as Naperville North never pulled closer to 5 points away the rest of the game. The Huskies narrowed the gap to 5 points four times, but they couldn't get over that hump.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Austin Weiss and Danny Grimley pulled Naperville North within 40-35, but the Falcons scored next 6 points to again extend the lead.

"They feed off each other, they're a very unselfish basketball team," said Huskies coach Mark Lindo. "They are among a handful of teams I think can make it to Peoria from our sectional."

Both teams overcame poor shooting nights. Wheaton North made only 4 of 18 3-pointers while relying on Fitzpatrick and Bagge inside.

Weiss led Naperville North with 12 points.

The game was played Thursday because Naperville North is hosting a sectional wrestling meet starting today. The Falcons next play Tuesday against Benet. The Huskies will enjoy an eight-day break before their next game.

"We definitely knew this wasn't going to be easy," said Falcons coach Jim Nazos. "You do hope to shoot a little bit better, but they did some very good things to get out to guys. We just made some good runs at good times."