St. Charles teams find their groove

St. Charles North's boys basketball team sprung back to respectability the old-fashioned way: defense.

Successive Upstate Eight Conference River Division victories over Larkin, Elgin and Batavia, and four wins in five games counting the Jan. 7 win over St. Charles East, had the North Stars near .500 at 10-12 entering Wednesday's game against Streamwood.

More importantly in the River Division, after Tuesday's action St. Charles North held a half-game lead over Geneva and defending conference champion Elgin, at 6-2.

While St. Charles North gets plenty of offense from its big two of Kyle Nelson and Quinten Payne and Michael Schroeder and Kyle Swanson joined them in double figures in the 67-58 win over Larkin coach Tom Poulin said the improvement's mainly been on the defensive end.

"We've kept the ball out of the lane and have done well on the defensive glass," Poulin said. "But the guys have really bought into trying to string stops together get one after another after another after another."

Poulin said if there's a pesky smaller opponent, then it's Schroeder who gets the assignment to deny him the ball. Poulin called Schroeder a "coach on the floor" who enforces the defensive game plan.

Against larger players, the 6-foot-4 Payne and 6-foot-5 Swanson lock them up. If an opponent does reach the lane, he encounters the 6-8 Nelson, whose ability to avoid foul trouble has had a positive impact.

Other than mainly falling back into half-court defense rather than pressing as Poulin had the North Stars doing earlier this season, not much else has changed X's and O's wise. The attitude remains the same.

"We have high-character kids," Poulin said. "Our entire roster has really impressed me and the rest of the coaches from day one. They come to work, they get their work done in practice, and they're good people."

While defense wins championships, these players just look forward to the next opponent.

"They just want to win the next game and keep continuing, one game at a time," Poulin said. "The mindset that they have is great."

The captain:

It's always fun to listen to a person comfortable with a recorder shoved in front of his face.

St. Charles East senior Charlie Fisher is one of these. A team co-captain with junior Kendall Stephens, after last Saturday's Saints win over Geneva Fisher explained what the Saints' four-game losing streak felt like compared with the current winning hand of three straight wins.

"When you're losing everyone's down in the dumps," he said. "They hate basketball, you hate practice, you hate everything. You don't even want to go.

"And once we came out with energy against Batavia and won (Jan. 24), our spirits have really lifted and everyone's coming together now again and really meshing well. Winning brings everyone together."

For his part, coach Patrick Woods said the season is "a marathon, not a sprint."

"We hit a rough patch there and we stuck together," he said.

Similar to the comments of St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin, the difference between winning and losing is slight. A greater willingness to play tough defense. Better energy. Patient offense.

"I just think we're making better decisions and making the extra pass, which is key," Woods said after the Geneva game. "So, like someone might have a good shot but they see someone open, they're making the extra pass and they're getting a better shot.

"That's really what it's boiling down to, so we're becoming smarter as the season goes along, which is good."

Night of Hoops:

Batavia will host its 19th annual Night of Hoops this Saturday with the usual triple-header of games.

"I think we have a group of teams people will enjoy watching," said Batavia coach Jim Roberts. "We have some new teams to the events, and some returning teams."

Among the first group is Wheaton North, which will play against Benet at 4:30 p.m. The Redwings, currently 15-4 headed into Thursday's East Suburban Catholic Conference contest against St. Viator, haven't played at Night of Hoops in more than a decade, Roberts said.

Peoria Central, another newcomer, gets Night of Hoops veteran St. Joseph at 7 p.m. One of Peoria Central's assistants is Thomas Wyatt, the former East Aurora all-state player. Wyatt brings the total of Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Famers in the house to at least five Wyatt, Roberts, St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore, West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman and Batavia public address announcer Rudy Dubis.

Kerkman's Blackhawks, now 16-3 after Tuesday night's win over Naperville Central, face Batavia in the final game, starting at about 7:30.

Prior to tipoff of the nightcap, the Night of Hoops' honoree will be longtime sports writer Bill Kindt, of the Beacon News.

"He's always been very diligent in what he does, and he's got a great passion for it," Roberts said of Kindt. "He cares about the kids that he writes about."

Twist of fate:

With 2 minutes 38 seconds left in the third quarter of West Aurora's 75-40 win at Naperville Central on Tuesday, senior Juwan Starks went up for a 3-point shot. When he came down, he later said a Redhawks defender landed on his right foot and, as Starks started moving back to play defense, the ankle twisted.

He writhed in pain before being helped off the court not to return to add to his game-high 21 points.

Afterward, Starks said he'd return as early as Wednesday.

"It feels better, it's all right," he said in the visitors locker room. "I'll be back tomorrow. I'm fine ... It's nothing to worry about, really. Just ice it and keep it elevated, that's it."

West Aurora, whose 7-1 record in the DuPage Valley Conference stands a half-game behind both 8-1 Naperville North and Glenbard North, hosts Glenbard North on Friday.

"I hope we have Juwan for that one," Blackhawks coach Gordie Kerkman said.

Quotable:

Gordie Kerkman was asked if this year's West Aurora team shot more 3-pointers than his teams of the past.

The coach considered the question and instead returned with a quote from his predecessor, indicating Kerkman's pleasure at the Blackhawks' ability to hit the 3:

"As coach (John) McDougal would say, you don't kick a bird in the butt when he's singing."