Mustangs hand North Stars first loss

When the Downers Grove South boys basketball team needed a boost, the Mustangs turned to none other than Malcom Herron.

The senior guard led all scorers with 22 points, including 9 points in the game-turning third quarter in the Mustangs' 56-43 win over St. Charles North at St. Charles East's 50th annual Thanksgiving Invitational Wednesday.

"He took the game over offensively," Mustangs coach Paul Runyon said of Herron. "There's not too many kids who can stop him one-on-one."

St. Charles North (1-1) led early in the first quarter. There were four ties in the first half before Downers Grove South (2-0) started to build its lead in the third, when it outscored the North Stars 18-10.

"The third quarter was the big difference," Runyon said. "That's when we came out defensively and made some adjustments... we got our transition going there."

Downers Grove South took its first double-digit lead at the end of the third and carried that into the fourth. The Mustangs' largest lead of the game was 52-31 after a basket from Mark Bentley.

"Downers Grove (South) is a great team," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. "We didn't come to play tonight. We need to play at a different level than we did tonight as far as intensity. We did not play North Star basketball. We were sluggish, we were slow, we didn't run the floor and our effort was horrible."

No player on St. Charles North reached double-digits and two starters fouled out. Mike Kastel led the way with 7 points.

"We didn't play with a passion to win," Poulin said. "It's pretty disappointing. We can't have nights like this. We are better than this."

In addition to Herron, the Mustangs were led by Julius Staisiunas' 10 points.