Naperville N. recovers to defeat WW South
After ending Benet's 43-game regular season winning streak on Tuesday night, some might have anticipated a bit of a hangover for Naperville North Friday night.
The Huskies did come out lackadasical but recovered nicely to down Wheaton Warrenville South 59-39 Friday night in Naperville in a DuPage Valley Conference clash.
Slow starts have become a nagging trend that Naperville North (5-2, 2-0) would like to curb. The Huskies trailed the entire first quarter, taking their first lead of the game at 11-10 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by senior guard Max Lewis at the end of the first quarter.
"We've been notoriously starting out slow. That's one of the things we need to work on," Naperville North coach Jeff Powers said. "If you keep going though the season getting yourself down, it's hard to keep coming back."
The Huskies did have another comeback in them, as they went on a 19-5 run after Lewis' buzzer-beater and never looked back.
"We were getting some momentum and running off that energy," Lewis said. "Once we moved the ball around, I got some open shots and I was hitting them. When we get open shots, that's the way we work."
Lewis and senior guard Kyle Lindberg came off the bench and gave the Huskies instant offense. Lewis poured in a game-high 18 points with 4 rebounds, while Lindberg chipped in with 9 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
"Both Max and Kyle came in and gave us instant energy, and they were all over the place," Powers said. "The ball moved around and they gave us a big lift."
After the strong start, things fell apart quickly for Wheaton Warrenville South (1-5, 0-2). The Tigers are still feeling a bit of the sting from their football players not being in full basketball condition yet.
"With the football players being gone, we haven't had the experience other teams have had, especially practicing," WW South senior forward Zach Zlabis said. "There's always a game where we find it, then everything comes together. Like last year, we went on a winning streak after the game where everything clicks."
Zlabis led the way for the Tigers with 12 points, and Danny Roadman added 11 points, but the Huskies' defense gave the Tigers fits all night, forcing 17 turnovers.
"Their zone defense gave us problems and it's something we need to work on in practice," Zlabis said.
Coach Powers was very satisfied with the effort he got on the defensive end.
"I'm proud of the way our guys got after it defensively," Powers said. "We're not a big team, so we're trying to use our quickness. It wasn't the first pass, but the second pass was the one we were getting to, and that's just guys playing hard."