St. Charles North shocks No. 1 Elgin
St. Charles North boys basketball coach Tom Poulin told his players they had the opportunity to create memories to last a lifetime if they could secure three victories in three games this week against Larkin, Elgin and Batavia.
“Coach Poulin said if we can get all three of these games, it'll be something we look back at not only at the end of the season but more when we come back five or 10 years later,” St. Charles North junior Quinten Payne said.
On the heels of Tuesday's convincing win over surging Larkin, the North Stars gave themselves quite a conversation piece for future reunions with Thursday's 55-53 road upset of Upstate Eight River rival Elgin, the top-ranked team in the Daily Herald Top 20.
The victory lifts St. Charles North (9-12, 5-2) into a second-place tie with Elgin (16-2, 5-2) in the UEC River, half a game behind idle leader Geneva (11-7, 5-1).
“We've come close to beating some really good teams,” Poulin said. “Against Larkin Tuesday and tonight we kind of got over the proverbial hump. We've been waiting for this to happen. The guys have not hung their heads or gotten dejected or negative about anything that's going on.
“We keep saying all these lessons we keep learning in the fourth quarter against some of these teams are going to pay off. They paid off tonight for us.”
Elgin entered the fourth quarter with a 42-37 lead and still led 49-43 after Kory Brown (game-high 23 points) scored on a putback with 3:41 remaining.
Then Tony Neari and Kyle Nelson teamed up for two big plays for the North Stars. First, Nelson spotted Neari on the perimeter and dished him the ball for an open 3-pointer. On Elgin's ensuing possession, Neari stole the ball right out of the hands of Elgin point guard Arie Williams.
“(Michael) Schroeder was doing such a good job on (Williams) that he got him to look the other way,” Neari said, “so I had a chance to just tap the ball out.”
Neari raced up the court and found a cutting Nelson in the lane for a layup. Nelson (16 points) was fouled on the play and his subsequent free throw knotted the score at 49-49 with 3:03 left.
“I've played with Tony for almost 10 years now,” Nelson said. “If he sees me coming down the lane, he's going to hit me. We just have a connection with each other, and it showed on those two pretty clutch plays.”
Elgin missed a 3-point attempt on its next possession. Neari was fouled while chasing the long rebound and split 2 free throws to give the North Stars their first lead since the second quarter, 50-49.
After a missed Elgin shot by Brown with 1:40 to play, the North Stars took a 52-49 lead on a bucket by Schroeder, who Nelson spotted all alone under the basket for an uncontested layup with 1:07 left.
Elgin's Williams twice pulled his team within a point of the lead in the final minute by sinking bonus free throws, but St. Charles North's Jason Weinzirl split 2 free throws with 10 seconds left for a 55-53 lead.
Elgin had one last possession to tie the game or win it. The Maroons raced up the court without taking a timeout. Williams drove past Nelson at the left elbow and attempted a 10-foot running shot, but the 6-foot-7 Nelson recovered and blocked the shot from behind.
Brown kept the carom from going out of bounds and saved it to teammate Matt Andres, but his desperation shot at the buzzer was challenged and fell short.
Though it was Elgin's first home loss and first defeat of any kind since Dec. 2, coach Mike Sitter took the end of his team's 12-game winning streak in stride.
“It's a regular-season game,” Sitter said. “Our goals are bigger than beating St. Charles North in January.”
St. Charles North has the opportunity to cap its memorable week with at Batavia (4-12, 1-6) tonight at 7 p.m.
“We've never won at Batavia, so we have a lot of motivation,” Poulin said. “They have all of our respect.”