North Stars slip by Elgin
A basketball team is usually happy to get a road win in the Upstate Eight Conference.
That might be the only positive thing that came out of St. Charles North's 55-44 victory Thursday night at Elgin.
"We learned a lot tonight," North coach Tom Poulin said. "If we're not the hardest working team in the gym anybody can beat you. You have to give the Elgin players credit. They outworked us."
The North Stars (8-5, 2-1) forced early turnovers to go on a 12-0 run to take a 19-4 lead less than a minute into the second half. But from there the Maroons (5-7, 0-2) out-hustled, outrebounded and outplayed North.
Elgin, which committed 9 first-quarter turnovers, handled the ball better in the second quarter and cut the deficit to 11, 26-15, by halftime. The Maroons turned the ball over only twice in the quarter and forced the North Stars into 7.
"They picked up the defensive intensity and poor decisions on our part," North senior guard Nick Neari said. "Personally, I didn't take care of the ball very well."
The Maroons, and specifically senior center Marcus Redburg, came out of halftime fired up. Redburg scored 10 points and grabbed 5 rebounds, 3 offensive, in the quarter. His 3-pointer from the left corner with 4 seconds left in the third brought the Maroons to within 3, 39-36, entering the fourth.
"He made himself a force in the second half," Maroons coach Mike Sitter said. "We don't run a lot of plays for our post guys, if they want the ball they have to go get it."
The North Stars turned the ball over once but went 5 for 18 from the floor with only Neari (7 points) and Josh Mikes (6 points) scoring in the third quarter.
A Tom Roth basket a minute into the fourth got Elgin within 1, 39-38. North increased the lead to 7, 46-39, after a Zach Hirsch 3-pointer with 3 1/2 minutes remaining. The Maroons got within 4, but would not get any closer.
"Ugly game and a road conference game (it's good to get the win)," Neari said.
Neari led all scorers with 15 points. He also had 5 steals. Mikes finished with 14 points. Jonathan DeMoss added 10 points and 8 rebounds. Roth had 14 points to lead Elgin, which was coming off an 11-day layoff since its last game. Redburg finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.