Poulakidas scores 25 in second half of Neuqua Valley win

Neuqua Valley senior guard Donovan Navarro is already looking forward to coming back to school next season to see teammate John Poulakidas play his senior season.

But for now Navarro and the Wildcats get to watch Poulakidas at least one more time this year after the Wildcats 6-foot-5 guard exploded for 25 second-half points in Friday night's 63-50 regional championship game win over Plainfield North.

It was Navarro who hit two key 3-pointers in the third quarter, but it was his teammate who took over from there. Poulakidas didn't stop until he had scored 31 points and powered the program to its first regional crown since 2015.

"The man, he's unstoppable," Navarro said. "I give all the credit to him and his dad, they work so hard. He's one of the hardest-working players I've ever known in my life. He's gonna go far. Next year I can't even imagine. When I come back to watch him it's going to be exciting. But we're really excited with what's coming up now."

Next up is a berth in the Lockport sectional semifinals against top-seeded Joliet West. But first things first. The Wildcats will savor this Lincoln-Way West regional title and their 25th win of the season and then get back to work Saturday.

"The last thing I wanted to do was go home," said Poulakidas, who scored 10 points in the third quarter and followed that up with 15 more in the final quarter. "The biggest thing everybody in that locker room stressed was that we wanted to practice tomorrow. We want to keep going.

"I've had such a great time with these guys this year. They've become my brothers and the last thing I wanted to do was see us with down faces and knowing that we can't play together. ... I had to take initiative in the second half to make sure I didn't see the downside."

The No. 4 Tigers, who entered Friday's game having won 13 of 14 games - including an overtime defeat of Neuqua last month - played superb defense in the first half. Plainfield North coach Robert Krahulik didn't notice a drop-off from his team in the second half, but Poulakidas just would not be stopped.

"We were on their shooters. They just hit shots. I mean John made what five fadeaways," said Krahulik, whose team finished 21-9. "There was nothing wrong with our defense. Players make plays and he made big plays. There's not much you can do when he's 6-5 and I got 6-3 guys guarding him and he's fading away. Those are tough shots. He made them."

Navarro had the timely 3s as Neuqua erased a 25-23 halftime deficit and Connor Davis had another solid night with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. But it was clearly Poulakidas' night.

"In the second half we wanted to push the ball up a bit and we got in transition and we got a couple open shoots," Wildcats coach Todd Sutton said. "Second half things opened up when we pushed it up a bit. Well, there was no execution, it was John shoot the ball. It's pretty damn easy. John shoot it. That's what he does."

Poulakidas credited Navarro for helping jump-start the squad in the third quarter.

"That was the key factor in the second half when Donovan made those two 3s," he said. "That gave us so much energy and momentum and we kind of took off from there. I was able to get in a rhythm. My shot was going in the second half, thankfully. But I think the biggest thing for me is I was being aggressive. I thought I was being a little too passive in the first half."