N. Stars can't quite overcome 17-point deficit
When you dig too big of a hole, sometimes you fall through doing it.
After spotting Rockford Jefferson a 17-point halftime lead at 35-18, St. Charles North's basketball team staged a furious second-half rally that came up just a little bit short during Saturday's night's 70-67 nonconference loss to the J-Hawks (8-1) in St. Charles.
Returning to the court less than 24 hours after defeating cross-town rival Rockford Guilford and following a lengthy bus ride, the J-Hawks didn't look at all fatigued while forcing 13 North Stars first-half turnovers and building a 19-point advantage late in the second quarter.
"We didn't match their intensity and match their will to win," said North Stars coach Tom Poulin. "We played two quarters and we're better than that. That's what .500 clubs do - play half the game now and then and other times put four quarters together.
"I'm trying to figure out what I can do differently to get them ready to go. I know that Rockford Jefferson deserves a lot of credit for taking a long bus ride, getting off the bus and from the jump ball, outworking us."
Trailing 16-12 after one quarter, the North Stars (3-4) saw the deficit grow to 15 midway through the second period as the J-Hawks scored 11 unanswered points, fueled by Thaddeus Perry (17 points) and Jordan Kerley (12 points).
St. Charles North, meanwhile, received offensive output from just three players while shooting 26 percent from the field (8-of-31), including 0-for-9 from beyond the 3-point arc, in the first 16 minutes.
Poulin, however, wasn't about to make excuses.
"One thing that will fix not shooting well is buckling down and playing team defense and we didn't do that either in the first half," said the coach. "We're good enough to play defense. That helps out on the nights that you're cold."
Led by Jonathan DeMoss (game-high 20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals, 5 assists) and sophomore reserve Josh Mikes (15 points, 8 rebounds), the North Stars began to chip into the J-Hawks' lead in the third quarter, closing to within 47-37.
After missing their first 13 3-point attempts, junior guard David Johnson (8 points) canned a pair of long-distance shots to spark the North Stars' final surge that saw them narrow the gap to 69-67 on a pair of Johnson free throws with 17.9 seconds remaining.
But that was as close as they would get, as Rockford Jefferson converted 15-of-26 free throws in the final period.
"They made a heck of a comeback on us and it doesn't surprise me because I know they're a good team," said J-Hawks coach Todd Brannan. "Luckily, we made enough free throws when we had to."
"We didn't deserve to win the basketball game so if we had won it we would have stolen it," said Poulin.
"To go down 17 in a half is not good but great teams don't shoot well and still come out with a win," said senior guard Nick Neari, who tallied 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter. "If we think of ourselves as a great team we need to do that."