Johnson providing North Stars with a spark
With guards Nick Neari and Jonathan DeMoss driving, Josh Mikes scoring around the basket and Zach Hirsch knocking down 3-pointers, St. Charles North has plenty of firepower in its starting lineup.
And the North Stars, 18-6 with a school record for wins, also are getting plenty of production from the bench.
David Johnson scored 17 points Saturday night at Thornwood, continuing the improvement he has shown all year. He scored 8 more points in a win Tuesday against Burlington Central.
Once a 3-point specialist, Johnson has added more variety to his game.
"He's got much better attacking the basket, playing fearless," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. "At the start of the year at the St. Charles East Thanksgiving tournament, he was a little nervous. He's gotten better. His all-around game has gotten a lot better, he handles the ball a lot better. I'm real pleased with David."
The North Stars take a No. 1 seed into the DeKalb regional, less than two weeks away. It promises to be interesting, with a potential rematch against a St. Charles East team that has won 5 of 6 games in the semifinals. There's also DeKalb, which is hard to beat on its home court, and South Elgin.
New weapon: Michael Ratay's 11-point, three 3-pointer effort last week in a 40-38 win over Batavia might have caught some off guard, considering the senior was averaging 1.9 points entering the game.
Not his coach Phil Ralston, who has seen Ratay shoot better in practice.
"We have been waiting on this to happen all season," Ralston said. "Until he made his decision on where he is going for football, there was time that was being taken away there. We knew he had the ability to help us out. We have been trying to use our bench more."
New strategy: After a cold night shooting at Geneva last Friday, Batavia senior David Bryant didn't settle for jump shots the next night against Yorkville.
Playing about half the game, Bryant scored 11 points to join starters Adam LeTourneau, Ricky Clopton and Ben Potter in double figures.
"I attacked more tonight (against Yorkville), I fell too in love with the jump shot last night," Bryant said.