St. Charles North runs past Kaneland
The Kaneland boys basketball team had 11 field goals in the first quarter Tuesday night against St. Charles North in Maple Park.
As part of their 27-point outburst in the opening eight minutes, the Knights enjoyed a 17-point unanswered run.
"They played harder than we did in the first quarter," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said.
But the final three quarters of the nonconference game were an entirely different matter.
Four field goals for the remainder of the game were all Kaneland could muster as the North Stars used two separate runs of 27 consecutive points in their 72-51 victory.
There was a 37-point swing in the game after Kaneland scored 24 of the first 34 points, only to see St. Charles North ultimately build two cushions of 23 points late in the fourth quarter.
The St. Charles North backcourt duo of Zach Ludwig and Anthony Delisi combined for 28 points in leading three players in double figures.
Ludwig had a game-high 15 points, and his point guard added 13.
Ryan Callaghan finished with 12 points for the North Stars.
"In the huddle (after the first quarter) we just said that this isn't acceptable (defensively)," Callaghan said. "'We can play better defense than this.'"
The Knights, leading 27-15 after their season-high of quarter points, missed all 9 second-quarter shots in trailing 39-33 at halftime.
"In hindsight, it was very, very critical," Poulin said of the North Stars' 14-0 burst ending the opening quarter and beginning the second to get St. Charles North right back in the game. "After the first quarter, I thought we picked it up a lot with little things."
St. Charles North (15-6) would score the opening 13 points of the second half as Kaneland (6-18) would have had a second straight field-goal-less quarter had Jake Hed not hit a 3-pointer with nine seconds to play in the third.
"We just stopped executing," said Hed, who scored all 7 third-quarter Kaneland points. "We were throwing up dumb shots, and you can't afford to do that."
Poulin had the luxury to empty the bench for the entire last quarter.
Luke Scheffers is a name to remember.
The days of freshmen basketball players being nurtured on the underclass teams are long over.
Scheffers scored all 7 of his points after halftime.
Kaneland had Dan Franck and Hed lead the way offensively with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
"I think that St. Charles North is a very good team, and they ratcheted it up defensively," Kaneland coach Joe Conroy said. "When they ratcheted up their pressure, we went back to some bad habits. I thought we tried to force some shots."