St. Charles rivals glad to play two this year
If you are a St. Charles basketball fan who always wished the cross-town rivals Saints and North Stars played more than once a year, like Batavia and Geneva do, this season you will get your wish.
That's because officials changed the setup at the St. Charles East Thanksgiving tournament, putting the Saints and North Stars in the same pool for the first time. Coupled with their normal meeting in Upstate Eight play, they now have two games against each other this season.
St. Charles North scored the final 11 points of the game Friday for a 58-51 victory over the Saints, and afterward both coaches said they were glad for the extra game against their rival.
"I think it's good for the kids," North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. "I feel like we should play twice a year anyway. I'm all for it. As great as this tournament is, it makes it even more special."
The matchup certainly seemed to help attendance Friday night, though there were good crowds all week to watch many of the best high school teams in the state play.
One reason for the switch was to get St. Joseph out of the Saints' pool. St. Charles East had lost to the Chargers six straight years, though ironically they wound up playing - and finally beating - St. Joe Saturday in the seventh-place game.
"These kids, that's (St. Charles North) their biggest game, that's something they look forward to," Saints coach Brian Clodi said. "I talked to Tom and we both agreed it would be great to get an early game and test each other out. We've played St. Joe every year, we wanted to get away from St. Joe. There's only certain ways we can pair it, got to keep the Provisos (in separate pools)."
Stepping up: Geneva is off to another good start, 4-1 this year even after graduating nearly all its minutes from last year's 21-7 team.
Vikings coach Phil Ralston said the most pleasant development in the first week has been the play of senior big man Brandon Beitzel.
The Vikings weren't quite sure what to expect given Beitzel's commitment to football and also the foot injury that ended his junior basketball season. But he has been a force inside playing defense, rebounding and providing some points in the paint.
"He is the biggest surprise we've had this year," Ralston said. "He hasn't played basketball in almost 10 months. For him to give the type of effort he's given is really... he is one of the linchpins for why we are here (in the Hoops for Healing championship game). I can't say enough kind things about him. We can only hope it continues."
Beitzel followed the strong tournament showing at Oswego with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Rochelle Tuesday.
Point guard Nolan Block echoed Ralston's view.
"He's an animal down low," Block said. "He's not the biggest but he's definitely the strongest down there."
"I wasn't completely sure coming off the broken foot. I'm happy with the way he's playing."