St. Charles N. clinches share of River

Of all the words used to describe St. Charles North’s boys basketball team the past two years — talented, maddening inconsistent and underachieving come to mind — the North Stars added one they will never forget Saturday night.

Champions.

Four players reached double figures and the North Stars found a way to cool off Geneva’s Brendan Leahy in the second half to turn around a 4-point third quarter deficit and beat the Vikings 54-47.

The win gives St. Charles North (13-13, 9-3) at least a share of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division championship, the first conference title in the program’s history.

It’s a title many observers thought might come last year when Quinten Payne transferred in to play with returnees like Josh Mikes and Kyle Nelson. That never materialized during an up-and-down season that ended at .500.

That only made Saturday sweeter for the North Stars, who can point to a 6-1 River record down the stretch — a run that includes road wins at Elgin and St. Charles East and a sweep of the Saints.

“It’s a reflection of this group of guys,” North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. “They paid their dues. They battled, they stayed positive, they stayed united. There was a lot of negativity surrounding us from various locations but never from them. They have always just worked and stayed together and believed in what we are trying to do. The reward is to be able to call yourself a champion.”

Nelson’s older brother Peter played on the North Stars’ first regional championship team, and the younger Nelson is glad he is now part of his own school first.

“There’s been a lot of good teams that have come through here,” Kyle Nelson said. “Nick (Neari) and Jon (DeMoss), that’s a legendary team (2009 sectional finalist) around here. That’s who everyone aspires to be but we are the first ones to win a conference championship. That is pretty important to us.”

It remains to be seen if St. Charles North has company at the top of the River. Geneva (13-10, 7-3) and Elgin (19-3, 8-3) can both still share the title. The Maroons will do it with a win over Geneva while the Vikings can get a piece by beating both Elgin and Batavia.

For much of the night Geneva looked poised to repeat last week’s 53-42 win over North. There were 17 ties or lead changes in the game.

Leahy, after scoring 21 points in the first half of Geneva’s win over Larkin Wednesday, nearly matched that Saturday. He scored all 10 of the Geneva’s first-quarter points, but the Vikings trailed 13-10 after one as Michael Schroeder and Kyle Swanson both got hot for the North Stars.

By halftime Swanson and Schroeder had each hit three 3-pointers giving the North Stars just the complement they needed to Nelson and Payne.

“It was just ball movement, that’s what got us open,” Schroeder said. “We definitely needed other guys to step up today because Geneva had to focus on our two big scorers. It was a big night for role players to step up and start spreading the points out.”

As hot as those two North Stars were nobody could match Leahy. He hit four 3s in the first half, the final one with five seconds remaining to send Geneva to the locker room up 27-24.

“First and foremost he deserves a lot of credit,” Poulin said. “He is a very good basketball player. He was shooting the ball well tonight which makes it doubly as tough because he gets on the offensive boards with his length. He can slash, he knows which spots from where to attack from. When he is shooting the ball well he is hard to stop.”

Leahy had 19 points at halftime on 7-of-11 shooting. He also left the game briefly after injuring his jaw when he landed on the head of St. Charles North’s Ryan Thomas trying to block a shot late in the second quarter.

But after that blistering start, Leahy didn’t attempt a shot in the second half until taking a corner 3 with 55 seconds left in the game — which he swished to finish with 22 points.

“They played really good defense in the second half,” Leahy said. “That’s (swollen jaw) not an excuse.

“I was confident in my teammates as well. I just couldn’t get in a very good rhythm in the second half because of their good defense.”

After getting an earful at halftime from his coaches, Payne stepped up his defense on Leahy in the second half.

“He can play, he can stroke it,” Payne said. “I started not helping off him as much. I lost him once in awhile and that’s on me. If he scores 19 in the second half again we get beat.”

Geneva maintained its lead through three quarters, the largest at 33-29 when Connor Chapman scored inside off an out-of-bounds play.

Trailing 33-32 starting the fourth quarter, Payne stepped into a passing lane for a steal he converted into a 3-point play. Leahy also was whistled for his fourth foul even though it looked like teammate John Swiderski had fouled Payne.

Ryan Willing’s off-balance flip shot tied the game a last time at 35-35. Nelson, saddled with fouls and held to 4 points through three quarters, scored the North Stars’ next 6 points including a backbreaking offensive rebound and stickback on Payne’s missed free throw.

The North Stars led 50-42 with just a minute left before Leahy’s 3 and a Willing drive gave the Vikings a last shot down 50-47. Jason Weinzirl’s 2 free throws with 24.6 seconds remaining restored a two-possession lead, and the Vikings didn’t score again.

“We shared the ball and kept our heads up,” Nelson said. “We just blew up last Friday (at Geneva) and played stupid. Everyone who watched the game saw it. We kept our heads on straight (tonight) and pulled out the win.”

With 21 points in that loss to Geneva Nelson was the only North Star in double figures. It was a different story Saturday as Payne (14 points), Schroeder (13), Nelson (12) and Swanson (11) all delivered.

The North Stars also only had 4 turnovers.

“First thing Coach Poulin said tonight was we need to remember how we felt Friday sitting in that locker room (at Geneva),” Payne said. “I think that was one of the biggest things that inspired us to change our mentality.”

Willing followed Leahy’s 22 points with 9 for Geneva and Phil Lorenz added 7.

“It’s frustrating but we know we have to come back and play hard against Elgin and Batavia knowing we can still tie,” Leahy said. “That’s a very good positive for us.

“We know North is a very good team and we have to play our very best game in order to beat them. Unfortunately tonight we didn’t play a perfect game and they beat us.”