Neuqua comeback stuns St. Charles North
Neuqua Valley and St. Charles North both faced adversity Tuesday night in St. Charles. The winner was determined by who handled it better.
The Wildcats fell behind by 13 points in the first quarter, only had 23 points at halftime, then exploded for 48 in the second half for a 71-61 victory to remain unbeaten at 9-0.
St. Charles North (3-5) lost its poise during the Wildcats' second-half run, both with 11 turnovers that led to several fastbreak layups and two technical fouls.
“They beat us with team play and remaining composed,” St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said.
The 13-point deficit is the biggest the Wildcats have overcome this year, though not as dramatic as an 8-point comeback in the final two minutes to beat Morton. Jim Stocki led the Wildcats in that earlier win with 29 points and 17 rebounds, and he topped that total with 33 points and 10 boards against the North Stars.
Stocki poured in 28 of his points in the second half. The Wildcats shot 17 of 28 from the field in the second half (61 percent) after making just 7 of 27 shots in the first half.
“I think we were timid early, I know I played timid in the first half,” Stocki said.
“We knew we couldn't shoot that poorly again in the second half. We had to shoot a better percentage.”
St. Charles North's ball movement and working the ball inside led to assists on 7 of its first 8 baskets to build an 18-5 lead six minutes into the game. Josh Mikes and Quinten Payne both scored 8 points in the first quarter.
“Shots weren't going in and they were fantastic,” Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said of St. Charles North. “That first quarter they were clicking on all cylinders. I thought they were the best team we've seen this year. They made us look bad. They picked us apart.”
The Wildcats still trailed 31-23 at halftime and 38-29 midway through the third quarter after Chris Conrad's 3-point play.
At that point Neuqua Valley had made just 1 of 12 from 3-point range. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Sam Johnson and Stocki ignited a 19-2 Wildcat surge for a 48-40 lead, 10 of the points coming from Stocki.
During that run Mikes was called for his fourth foul setting a screen. Kyle Nelson's 3-point play brought the North Stars within 48-43, but that's when things went from bad to worse.
On the North Stars' first possession of the fourth quarter Payne was fouled. During the dead ball while the official walked to the scorer's table the sophomore transfer from Florida who had two slams in the first half including one breakaway set up by Alec Eickert's steal went up and dunked the ball and was hit with a technical.
While Stocki was getting ready to shoot the two free throws, Conrad also was given a technical. Stocki made 3 of 4 free throws, Johnson followed with a steal he took in for a layup and the Wildcats were ahead 53-43.
“In the gym in practice you blow a whistle and he'll (Payne) go up and dunk the ball,” Poulin said. “I need to say, ‘Look, you can't do that in a game.' They (the officials) can't let that go.”
“We always tell the guys we want to be eye of the storm. There's going to be chaos going on around you. You want to be calm and remain collected and composed. We learned that lesson today. We are expecting to be in much bigger games with bigger crowds and a lot more pressure on you. We have to be prepared to stay composed.”
The Wildcats did most of their damage at the line in the fourth quarter, making 12 of 20. The North Stars got as close as 55-49 only to watch the Wildcats respond with the next 7 points capped by Johnson's fourth steal that led to another layup.
“It was just picking up the intensity, moving our feet, getting our hands in passing lanes,” Stocki said. “They out-hustled us in the first half. We upped our intensity and were able to out-hustle them in the second half.”
Johnson added 15 points and Alex Karkazis scored 11 for Neuqua Valley while Payne scored 19 and Mikes 17 to pace the North Stars.
“You know a good team like that is going to go on a run, I just think we didn't fight back,” Mikes said. “They gave us their punch and we didn't come right back with ours. We have to keep it together in those situations.”
While Mikes managed to finish the game with 4 fouls, both Conrad and Kyle Nelson fouled out.
“We thought tonight was an opportunity to realize how well we can play together and realize that we are a good basketball team,” Poulin said. “This is a great opponent to try to prove that to yourself. We have a pretty strong 8-game schedule but we didn't come into this season expecting to be 3-5 and we didn't come here tonight to be happy with a close loss to an undefeated Neuqua team. It stings. We feel we can beat that team, but they beat us in the third quarter.”