Wheaton North 59, Benet 36

Wheaton North's boys basketball team definitely wasn't looking ahead to a huge weekend of games.

If anything, the importance of this weekend made the Falcons focus even more on Tuesday's nonconference game against Benet in Lisle.

Scoring from inside and out with balance from nearly everyone who took the court, Wheaton North pulled away to a 59-36 victory over the Redwings.

The Falcons (18-5), co-leaders with Naperville Central atop the DuPage Valley Conference, now shift their focus to Friday's DVC game against Glenbard East and Saturday's at West Aurora.

With the program's first DVC championship since 1986 hanging in the balance, playing at a peak is a priority -- especially as next Wednesday's conference finale looms against Naperville Central in Wheaton.

"I think we're going in the right direction," said Falcons coach Jim Nazos. "It's a huge weekend with two conference teams, and the thing about these last three games is we have to play well to win. You want to play well going into the tournament, but you're also playing for a conference title."

Benet (12-10), which had its three-game winning streak snapped, used a 6-0 first-quarter burst to take an 11-9 lead. The rest of the half, however, featured devastating droughts.

A 14-2 Falcons run spanned the first and second quarters as Benet was twice held scoreless for about three minutes. Holding the Redwings to 7 second-quarter points, Wheaton North built a 29-18 halftime lead.

"It was too much because we put ourselves in a position where we had to chase them," said Benet coach Marty Gaughan. "If you want to beat a guy in a race, you don't want to give him a lead. You can't chase a good team."

Tom Fitzpatrick led three double-digit scorers for Wheaton North, scoring 6 of his game-high 17 points on a trio of two-handed dunks. John Bagge had 13 points and 13 rebounds while Steve Pierotti scored 7 of his 10 points in the second quarter as the Falcons pulled ahead.

Dave Pilalis pitched in with 8 points and 9 assists.

Ryan Haggerty, who hammered a nifty one-handed dunk on a putback, and Joe Meyerhoff each scored 10 points for the Redwings.

"Everyone on this team can score, so whoever's open is going to hit the shot," Pierotti said. "This is a huge weekend coming up so it's important that we're playing well."