Second-chance points doom St. Charles East
There was a glaring element in St. Joseph posting a 60-51 defeat against host St. Charles East Friday night.
“They had 13 offensive rebounds and made 7 baskets out of them,” first-year St. Charles East coach Patrick Woods said on the final day of pool play at the Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Invitational. “That’s obviously the difference right there. We’re just not real good at (rebounding) right now. Rebounding is ...”
Woods did not finish his thought, but his body language suggested that there is no more important aspect to basketball than rebounding.
The Saints (1-2) will meet cross-town and Upstate Eight Conference rival St. Charles North (1-2), which dropped a 58-52 verdict against Downers Grove South, in the fifth-place game Saturday afternoon.
Schaumburg and Plainfield East advanced to the championship game after continuing their flawless play with respective wins against East Aurora and Thornton Fractional North.
It was a most peculiar evening for the Saints’ boys basketball team.
The squad had more field goals from beyond the 3-point arc (8) than conventional makes (5).
In addition, three players — Kendall Stephens, Johnny Hondlik and David Mason — accounted for 48 of the Saints’ 51 total points.
The schools traded 13-point opening quarters, but the Chargers’ defensive tenacity and equally tough approach to the offensive glass created separation before the halftime break.
Stephens’ long 3-point field goal early in the quarter was the only field goal the Saints converted in the quarter; St. Joseph (2-1) forced the Saints into missing their other 9 attempts from the floor in building a 26-18 lead at the intermission.
Reggie Johnson, who led St. Joseph with 17 points, had 4 offensive rebounds from his guard position to orchestrate the Chargers’ 8-point halftime lead.
“He’s our most consistent player,” said legendary St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore, the all-time state leader in boys basketball victories.
St. Charles East had plenty of quality looks, but the team imploded in the paint.
“We’re just not finishing inside,” Woods said. “(Our stats showed) that we missed 11 shots (close to the basket).”
St. Joseph did not help matters when it made 6 straight shots to open the third quarter, building its lead to double digits on eight occasions.
But the Saints refused to wilt.
Scoring more points in the third quarter than the first half, Stephens’ pair of 3-pointers ignited the club.
The Purdue recruit hit five 3-point field goals in producing a game-high 23 points.
“Missing layups, rebounding and execution are the things we need to work on,” Stephens said. “I could care less about how much I score (in a loss). It’s a team thing.”
St. Charles East closed to within 44-39 in the fourth quarter, but back-to-back second-chance field goals by St. Joseph enabled the Chargers to lead by at least 6 points the rest of the way.
Hondlik and Mason added 15 and 10 points, respectively, for St. Charles East.
Downers South and St. Charles North traded 13-0 runs in the second half to forge a 39-39 tie, but the Mustangs advanced to the third-place game behind the brilliant all-around play of Jerron Wilbut, who led all players with 22 points.
Greg Garro had tip-ins on consecutive possessions late in the fourth quarter to strangle the North Stars’ comeback attempt.
“Those are hustle plays right there,” St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said of the back-to-back putbacks by the Mustangs’ post. “We didn’t take care of the ball well enough. We didn’t value each possession like Downers did.”
Quinten Payne led St. Charles North with 14 points and 9 rebounds; Kyle Swanson had four 3-pointers to finish with 13 points.