St. Charles North ends tourney on positive note
St. Charles North and Jacobs meeting on the final day of the Jacobs Holiday Classic, like the teams did Thursday, is certainly nothing new.
It's the hour that changed, a noon tipoff instead of the 7:30 p.m. both teams have been accustomed to when the Eagles beat the North Stars in both the 2007 and 2008 championship games.
St. Charles North finally got its win over Jacobs, using a Kyle Nelson-led inside game to overpower Jacobs 65-54 in the 11th-place game.
"I said to (Jacobs coach Jim) Hinkle it's normal to play Jacobs on the final day but at noon it's a little different," North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. "We would much rather be playing in the evening but we didn't earn it."
The North Stars (7-7), the tournament runner-up the past three years, shot 61 percent from the field (27 of 44). They only attempted six 3-pointers, missing all of them, and shot at least 50 percent in all four quarters.
The 6-foot-7 Nelson led the North Stars with 21 points and also blocked 6 shots, two off his career high set last Saturday ago against Prairie Ridge.
"I just did what I could," Nelson said. "I just tried to play help defense when I could because they had a lot of a backdoor opportunities. I just tried to be there for my teammates."
Josh Mikes shook off an early technical foul that caused him to miss much of the first half. He finished with 16 points and made the all-tournament team for the second straight year.
Sophomore Quinten Payne also scored 16 points. He threw down two dunks in transition plays, both bringing his brother and Iowa guard Cully Payne to his feet in the stands with roars of approval.
Payne's second dunk came over Jacobs' Alex Glover for a 3-point play, giving the North Stars a 41-29 lead midway through the third quarter.
Jacobs responded with a 15-2 run to take its only lead of the second half, 44-43. Eagles senior Nick Hofman, also an all-tournament selection, scored 7 of his 21 points in that stretch.
Mikes scored the final basket of the third quarter to put the North Stars back on top 45-44 entering the fourth. The North Stars opened that quarter with the first 9 points to regain a double-digit lead and were never seriously threatened again.
St. Charles North sixth man Jason Weinzirl scored all 6 of his points in the fourth quarter to help the North Stars extend their lead.
"We had every opportunity to win but we couldn't keep our run going and they took over," Hinkle said. "I thought it was an improvement, I thought we played better today than yesterday."
Nelson said the North Stars held a meeting after Wednesday's loss to Zion-Benton, and how they handled the adversity after Jacobs comeback is a sign there are better days ahead.
"That showed a lot of our character," Nelson said. "I think that third quarter run that we took from them and then we gave them a punch right back showed that we are ready to become a team."
Mike Peterson added 10 points for Jacobs (6-5).
"We missed a lot of easy shots, missed a lot of layups," Hinkle said. "But I thought we played very well against a quality team. We're real happy with our defense and our execution on offense was good."
After playing five games in six days, the North Stars now have 14 days off until hosting Elgin on Jan. 7.
"We learned some valuable lessons at Jacobs," Poulin said. "The kids enjoyed themselves. We had some ups and downs but we are much better exiting than entering."