Got to hand it to Simpson, N. Chicago

His hands were tied.

Then they got stuffed behind his back.

Yet, even when at a disadvantage, North Chicago superstar guard Aaron Simpson still made plays.

Simpson was taken out of his game Monday night when he was whistled for his third straight offensive foul against Lake Zurich just one minute into the second quarter. His answer was to play defense for the rest of the quarter with his hands behind his back.

"I figured if they couldn't see my hands, it couldn't be a foul," smiled Simpson, whose three charges were among nine total offensive fouls called in the game. "I just came up with that on my own. I knew I had to adjust my game."

The adjustments weren't too dramatic, though. In many ways, Simpson was the same old Simpson in leading visiting North Chicago to a 60-49 victory over Lake Zurich in a North Suburban Conference crossover.

Simpson, who has guided North Chicago to a 17-3 record, was still a defensive menace. In fact, his unique hands-free defense somehow managed to lead Lake Zurich into a turnover on a five-second call. And offensively, even though he fell short of his 31-point scoring average, he hit one big shot after another. Simpson finished with a game-high 22 points.

"We thought, 'Here's an opportunity for us (with a foul-plagued Simpson having to adjust his game).' But we didn't take advantage of it," Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said. "We told our guys that (Simpson) was going to probably have to shy away and start shooting 3s. We were ready for it, and what did he do? He hit two 3s in a row.

"But he's just a great player who can hit big shots and drive right by you. We were on our guys to stay on him, but what can you do?"

The Bears were doing all the right things early on, jumping out to a 10-1 first quarter lead. Senior forward Doug Murphy energized the defense with a couple of his game-high five drawn charges. He also scored 4 early points.

But Simpson hit his back-to-back 3-pointers during a 14-2 North Chicago run in the second quarter that paved the way to a 27-23 halftime lead.

"A lot of people would have said that I should have taken Simpson out when he got his third foul," North Chicago coach Gerald Coleman said. "But we're at the point now where we're almost in the playoffs. And I'm trying to teach him that in the playoffs, he might have to play through three or four fouls.

"You've got to play smarter and I thought he did. He played smarter. Early on, we weren't playing very smart as a team. Lake Zurich did a very good job of taking our fast break away and it worked to their benefit for a while. But I was proud of my guys because they ended up being able to play at a slow pace."

The Warhawks were quick on the boards, though. They out-rebounded Lake Zurich 32-20 and often got multiple shots at the basket because of offensive rebounds. Marzhon Bryant scored 16 points for North Chicago and pulled down 9 rebounds, including 4 on the offensive end.

And while North Chicago was getting extra chances, Lake Zurich was getting fewer. The Bears turned the ball over 18 times.

With back-to-back 3-pointers by John Repplinger midway through the fourth quarter, Lake Zurich did manage to cut its deficit to 5 points (51-46). But North Chicago hit 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch to close out.

"We felt confident that we could get back into the game, but turnovers killed us, especially down the stretch," said Repplinger, who finished with 8 points. "They've got such quick hands."

Lake Zurich also got a team-high 13 points out of Mirko Grcic and 11 points from Murphy.