Naperville North sprints to victory in Powers' debut

With a new coach to start a new season, it may take a little while for the Naperville North boys basketball team to identify its strengths and to create an identity.

But one thing that's already known - and was on display in Monday's opener against Marmion Academy - is that this year's Huskies like to run.

First-year coach Jeff Powers' squad raced up and down the floor en route to knocking off the Cadets 72-52 in first-round action of the Hoops for Healing tourney at Naperville North.

Powers used 10 different players in the first quarter alone and went deep to his bench in the third quarter only to have to bring back some starters after a scrappy Marmion squad had thoughts of a big comeback.

"I was very pleased we played with a lot of energy and played hard," said Powers, who won his opener at North thanks in large part to 16 points apiece from James O'Shaughnessy and Joe McNicholas. "We're experimenting. I told the kids that Thanksgiving is a good time to experiment. We tried a couple different things and I wanted to see what players jell and what ones can work well together."

With the Cadets taking to the floor minus a pair of injured guards, including returning point guard Nick Scoliere, the Huskies were able to cause some problems with their switching defenses. Thirteen first-half turnovers helped put the Cadets in a 35-18 deficit at the half.

Mark Peters, who scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer for Marmion, but Naperville North answered with a 16-2 run including 14 unanswered points to take command at 53-23. The 6-foot-6 McNicholas and 6-4 O'Shaughnessy, a Marmion transfer, each went 3-for-3 from the floor in the third quarter as the hosts pulled away.

"The beginning of the second half I liked what we did," said Powers. "We scored the first eight possessions. As big as we are, our kids are athletic enough to move up and down the floor. I think that will surprise some people."

It surely impressed Cadets coach Rashon Burno, who said, "We knew the game would be in spurts. We just wanted to limit the spurts because they've got a lot of quick, tall guys. It was a good challenge and I love the fact that the kids fought hard."

With Peters hitting 6 of 8 shots in the second half and Eddy Grahovec finishing the night 8-for-8 from the line to tally 11 points, Marmion closed to within 61-46 midway through the fourth quarter.

But the deep Huskies, who had Matt LaCosse join O'Shaughnessy and McNicholas in double figures with 10 points and 6 rebounds, were just too tough for the Cadets on this night. Matt Hasse added 9 points and Nick Buege 7 for Naperville North, which takes on DeKalb (1-0) when tourney action resumes on Tuesday.