Wheaton North defeats West Chicago

Wheaton North defeated West Chicago 58-34 as West Chicago turned the ball over 32 times and had at least five turnovers in every quarter.

"We never really work on creating turnovers while in practice," Wheaton North coach Jim Nazos said. "Instead we work on getting people in the right places and getting in a good defensive position."

Of the 32 turnovers the Wildcats committed, 10 of them were unforced where either a player simply missed a pass or just threw the ball away.

"I can live with the turnovers if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing offensively," West Chicago coach Kevin Baldus said. "But the turnovers where it is a simple action of catching a ball or throwing the ball over someone's head being too aggressive, that is something that frustrates me. Tonight we gave them a lot of extra possessions and that hurt us."

Mike Small was a force off the bench both offensively and defensively for the Falcons. Small had 8 points, including two 3-pointers during a 20-5 Wheaton North run and pressured the West Chicago ballhandlers all the way up the court.

But Small wasn't the only person playing stellar defense. One of the goals the Falcons (3-2, 1-0) set was to hold their opponents to single-digit scoring in every quarter. Wheaton North held West Chicago to single-digits in three of the four quarters.

"One thing we talk about as a team is playing defense as a unit," Small said. "The coaches put that will into us about playing defense. They tell us that the most athletic teams don't always win because defense goes a long way. When you have five people on the floor and none of them want to give up a bucket, that is team basketball."

The Falcons led 22-16 at half, but it could have been a lot worse for the Wildcats after turning the ball over 16 times. The game was close was because the Falcons shot 9 of 31 from the floor in the first two quarters.

But that trend didn't continue in the second half when the Falcons shot 13 of 24.

Jeff Schalk led the Falcons with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Kevin Peterson led West Chicago (0-6, 0-1) with 12 rebounds and chipped in with 3 points.