Naperville North settles into win

As a 24-point lead rapidly faded in the second half, Naperville North's boys basketball team needed a jolting reminder.

"I was thinking, hey, we're the ones with the 12-point lead here," said Huskies senior Matt LaCosse. "We've got to calm down."

It took a few more frantic minutes, but the calm eventually came.

As close as it got, Naperville North trailed only once in Wednesday's 67-56 win over Oswego in the Class 4A Naperville North regional semifinals.

The ninth-seeded Huskies (16-11) advance into Friday's regional final to face No. 1 Benet (28-0), which beat Naperville North 62-41 in early December.

"Teamwork," is how LaCosse described his team's ability to break out to a 52-28 lead midway through the third quarter. "We're not an individual team. We share the basketball. When someone's open we get them the ball. We don't care who it is."

While everyone contributed to the win, LaCosse carried the Huskies at crucial times. The 6-foot-6 forward tallied a team-high 24 points, including 8 in the fourth quarter when Naperville North's lead really dwindled.

Oswego sophomore Miles Simelton nearly single-handedly rallied the No. 9 Panthers (18-9). He scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, including a personal 7-0 run to pull Oswego within 58-51 with 4:03 left in the game.

Another Simelton bucket made it 59-53 with 2:30 left, but LaCosse scored the next 5 points and Jon Mengel, who finished with 12 points, added a pair of free throws to boost the advantage to 66-53 with under a minute left.

Jovonn Griffin knocked down a pair of 3-pointers as the Huskies broke out to a 15-4 lead. Oswego rallied to take its lone lead of 18-17 on a Simelton basket early in the second quarter.

A 14-2 run to start the second half surged the Huskies to their 24-point third-quarter lead.

"I think our kids were well-prepared, they knew what was going on," said Naperville North coach Jeff Powers. "And that kid over there (LaCosse) may be the best leader in high school sports. Matt LaCosse was not going to let us lose today."