Naperville North finds sense of urgency

Teams across the DuPage Valley Conference don't need advanced scouting reports to know that Wheaton North lives and dies by the 3-point shot.

Still, the Falcons boys basketball team burned Naperville North from beyond the arc in the first quarter Friday night, knocking down 7 of their 11 long-distance attempts and streaking out to a 24-8 lead after one quarter.

Afterward, Huskies coach Jeff Powers convinced his team to jump out on the Wheaton North shooters, and voila - Wheaton North hit just one of its next 14 3-pointers in the game's middle quarters, allowing the Huskies to grab control of the game and ultimately escape Wheaton with a 76-68 victory in tow.

"We didn't close out 3-point shooters, and we knew they could shoot the 3-pointer," Powers said. "Once we got a sense of urgency in the second and third quarters, it made a big difference."

With the Falcons' attempts not falling, Naperville North (11-4, 3-2 DuPage Valley Conference) seized the opportunity to increase the game's tempo. The Huskies sliced into Wheaton North's sizable first-quarter advantage, nearly turning the tables on the home team to head into halftime trailing by just 4 points.

A Joe McNicholas layup with 4:51 remaining in the third quarter gave Naperville North a 49-48 lead - its first since the scoreboard read 2-0 in the opening period.

"We were able to really transition very well," McNicholas said. "We were able to use our speed, which we haven't really been doing all year-but in this game we were able to transition really well and get up the court."

Senior guard Matt Bushman led much of the Naperville North transition, spreading the ball and allowing four different Huskies to score in double digits.

"Everyone was just moving really well, and they made my job really easy," Bushman said.

If the Huskies weren't getting buckets in the transition game, they earned points at the free-throw line. Naperville North sank 23 free throws on 34 attempts, hampering the Falcons (6-9, 2-4) with foul trouble along the way. From there Naperville North simply exploited its size advantage.

"We started running the high-low sets and got our big guys underneath," Powers said. "Once we got the ball in there, they had to foul our else we would get two points."

Wheaton North coach Jim Nazos knew his team had to do more than sink three-pointers to emerge victorious.

"You knew they weren't just going to let that continue," Nazos said. "We knew they were going to come back, because they're a very good team."