Thornwood 67, St. Charles North 65
Unable to hold a lead in the final seconds of regulation against Thornwood, St. Charles North lost a chance at an impressive nonconference win in its final tune-up before next week's Class 4A Larkin regional.
That's not all the North Stars lost.
Senior Tim Janeway, playing in his final home game, came down awkwardly on his left ankle driving to the basket in the second quarter.
Janeway, the team's second-leading scorer with a 10.3 average, didn't return. He was on crutches afterward and was headed to get X-rays.
St. Charles North looked for much of the night like it would overcome the injury and pick up a win. But Thornwood tied the game with a basket late in regulation, then Antonio Peterson broke free under the basket with 2 seconds left in overtime for the winning bucket in the Thunderbirds' 67-65 victory.
"We had the game won in regulation. It's a tough loss but when you can sit there and say you had Thornwood beat you have to hold your head high," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said.
"Timmy is a tough kid. We'll see what the X-rays say and go from there. We've got a nice week off so we'll see."
St. Charles North (16-11) was hoping to end its regular season with a school record-tying 17th win. A balanced effort led by Jonathan DeMoss (17 points), Nick Neari (13), Zach Hirsch (12), Mike Kastel (10) and Mike Lefelstein (9) almost got it done.
Janeway is the only senior in the North Stars' lineup. Once Lefelstein replaced him to start the second half, St. Charles North's five junior lineup battled through 4 lead changes and 9 ties in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Thornwood senior Nate Green led all scorers with 20 points and assisted Peterson's winning basket by penetrating and drawing two North Star defenders.
Green also was a big part of Thornwood's near flawless performance down the stretch at the free throw line. The Thunderbirds hit 13 of 14 in the fourth quarter and overtime, including all 8 in OT. St. Charles North was 4 of 7 in the same stretch and turned the ball over 3 times in overtime.
"Mistakes at crunch time which we typically don't do," Poulin said. "When we made turnovers they either led to points or they came at the worst time."
Neari helped put St. Charles North put itself in position to win with 7 points in the fourth quarter. His 3-pointer gave the North Stars a 46-44 lead. Kastel had a pair of key second-chance baskets, then a drive that Neari finished in traffic with his left hand put the North Stars ahead 55-53 heading into the final minute.
St. Charles North held and rebounded a missed 3, but it threw the ball away giving Thornwood another shot. Green's basket with 18.4 seconds left tied the game at 55.
Lefelstein's 2 free throws gave the North Stars their only overtime lead at 57-55. St. Charles North battled back to tie the game three times at 59, 61 and 65, the final one coming on DeMoss' 3-point play with 16.7 seconds remaining.
Thornwood (11-13), which never led by more than 3 points, actually started its night at St. Charles East before realizing it was at the wrong school. They arrived at St. Charles North at about 7 p.m. after a two-hour bus ride.
"We've been struggling this year, we've been close in quite a few games," first-year Thornwood coach Marcus Alderson said. "We probably should have won about seven more games. This will help us going into the state tournament knowing we can win a close game."
Poulin also is hoping this new nonconference game on the North Stars' schedule will help prepare the team for next Tuesday's regional opener against either South Elgin or Streamwood.
He'll also be hoping for good news on his senior leader Janeway's left ankle.
"I'm proud of the way the kids battled," Poulin said. "Thornwood is a good basketball team. They presented matchup problems galore.
"We'll learn from it. It's a good lesson. Maybe this will refocus us for next Tuesday.