Naperville North fares no better this time
Naperville North's boys basketball team has seen this show before.
It was just as miserable the second time around.
State-ranked and top-seeded De La Salle again dominated the Huskies with Thursday's 54-28 victory in the semifinals of the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York in Elmhurst.
Naperville North (8-3) will play Downers Grove South in the third-place game at 5:45 p.m. Friday. De La Salle faces St. Ignatius in the title game.
"They did the same thing to us again," said Naperville North coach Jeff Powers. "I thought mentally our kids did not do a good job. We turned the ball over way too many times. We had ourselves down for seven unforced errors in the first half, and you can't do that."
Mike Keane scored the first basket of the game for the Huskies (8-3), but it quickly went downhill from there. De La Salle (11-1), which beat Naperville North 81-61 in the season opener, opened a 12-point lead in the second quarter before the Huskies narrowed the gap to 19-12 by halftime.
The Meteors, however, hammered Naperville North with a 23-5 third-quarter run, including the final 14 points of the period. A 3-pointer by Alvin Ellis to start the fourth quarter extended the lead to 45-17.
Like the first meeting, the Huskies struggled to match De La Salle's size and quickness.
"We just couldn't get anything going, so we had to slow down, calm our nerves and just keep playing," said Meteors junior Alvin Ellis, who scored 7 of his 12 points in the third quarter. "We were real confident, but we didn't want to be bigheaded because they kind of stayed with us last game. But then we just turned it up another notch."
While De La Salle shot 59 percent in the second half, Naperville North struggled with 24 percent shooting for the game, including 4-of-19 3-point shooting. David Sinickas hit three 3-pointers in leading the Huskies with 9 points.
"The first time we played them was the first game on their floor," said De La Salle coach Thomas White. "It was a 20-point game, but they were making shots. This time on a neutral floor, they missed some shots."
In the second semifinal game St. Ignatius rallied from a 10-point deficit heading to the fourth quarter to edge Downers South 52-50. Abdoulie Conteh hit a running jumper in the lane with 1.5 seconds left to win the game.
The Mustangs' Jerron Wilbut, who tied it at 50-50 with a three-point play, led all scorers with 21 points.