Furtney’s 28 points, SCN’s zone give St. Charles East fits
It is never too late in the season for high school basketball coaches to add a few strategic wrinkles.
Behind a recently installed 1-3-1 zone defense, St. Charles North (9-16, 2-9) frustrated St. Charles East throughout much of the game on the way to a 65-42 DuKane Conference triumph Friday night at St. Charles North.
After the Saints (8-17, 1-10) trimmed a 9-point deficit to 19-18 following Jake Greenspan’s 3-pointer from the top of the key midway through the second quarter, the North Stars expanded their lead with a 13-0 run over the next 3-plus minutes.
Senior forward Jake Furtney, who led the way with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 steals, began the run with 5 consecutive points, including 1 of his three 3-point plays, and baskets from Augie Hoffman, Daniel Connolly, and Colin Hopp made it 32-18 late in the second quarter.
Leading 35-20 at halftime, the North Stars outscored the Saints 24-10 in the third quarter to extend the lead to 59-30.
Hopp’s 2 free throws with 19 seconds left in the third quarter pushed the North Stars’ lead past 30 at 59-28, and by rule, began a running clock for the remainder of the contest.
“It was one of those nights,” said North Stars coach Tom Poulin, whose team swept the 2-game series with the Saints. “We’re getting better in that zone, and I think we may have caught them by surprise initially.
“We’ve played it now three of our last four games, and our guys believe in it.”
Furtney, who shot 9 of 13 from the field and made all 9 of his free-throw attempts, agreed with his coach’s defensive assessment.
“I think it fits our play style because we’re long,” said Furtney. “We’re getting the rotations down and we’re aggressive with it.”
Furtney, who scored 22 points in North’s 57-46 win over the Saints in December, welcomed the opportunity to continue the rivalry.
“We really look forward to this game,” said Furtney. “The turnout is always amazing. We always want to win this game, especially the seniors in what could be the last time playing our rivals.”
Senior forward Parker Reinke added 19 points for the North Stars, who led by as many as 33 in the fourth quarter.
“When Jake (Furtney) finishes and we share the ball on the perimeter and shoot well — that’s the recipe,” said Poulin. “Defensively, we wanted to make sure we didn’t give them transition and open threes. That was the formula, and I think we had a lot of things go our way tonight.
“I told the guys before the game that the series is 29-24 us, so let’s be the first to 30.”
Senior Jacob Vrankovich and junior Gavin Szerlong finished with 11 and 9 points, respectively, for the Saints.
“We struggled from the start,” said Saints coach Rob Klemm. “Tom (Poulin) made a great move going 1-3-1 — something that we never saw coming. We thought they might go zone, but I haven’t seen him show a 1-3-1.
“That threw us for a loop. They’re big and they’re long. It was effective. I told the guys afterward that we learn from it, and we move on.”
Sam Koenen added 6 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds for the North Stars.
“The record doesn’t matter any more because the seeds come out Wednesday morning, and we play Wednesday night,” said Poulin. “We have three conference games left to get us ready for the (regional) tournament.”