Boys basketball: Naperville North fends off Waubonsie Valley’s comeback
The holidays are over, but the Naperville North pep band kept the festive feeling going Tuesday night with a terrific rendition of ‘Sleigh Ride’ at intermission of the Huskies game against visiting Waubonsie Valley.
That brought a round of applause from the crowd, and on the court, Naperville North kept the merry mood proceeding right on cue with a 46-41 DuPage Valley win over the Warriors.
In a matchup between two of the top 20 teams in the Daily Herald rankings — the Huskies are No. 9 while Waubonsie Valley is ranked 17th — Naperville North senior guard Max Steele got his team off to a hot start by scoring the first eight points of the game for his team.
The Huskies didn’t cool off the rest of the way, despite some anxious moments down the stretch.
Naperville North led by double-digits at halftime, but watched the visitors close to within three late before righting the ship.
“A great game tonight against a great team,” said Steele. “We knew they were going to come back at halftime. They play super hard and they’re very well-coached.
“Waubonsie Valley is a really big team, really physical, and they have no quit.”
Junior Kristopher Mporokoso paced the Warriors (8-6, 2-2) with a game-high 20 points, while sophomore teammate Kyler Payne added 19.
“We knew coming into this game that one thing you can’t teach is experience,” said Waubonsie Valley coach Andrew Schweitzer. “They (Naperville North) have their entire roster back, they’re talented, and they play great team ball together.
“In the first half they were destroying us on the boards and getting every 50/50 ball. We did a little better job of that (in the second half), and I loved our kids fight. We were right there but some of our lack of experience showed up. We’ve got to make those plays down the stretch."
The Huskies (14-3, 4-0) took a 26-15 lead late in the second quarter when senior Miles Okyne made a great feed to classmate Will Harvey for an easy layup.
Naperville North carried that momentum over to the third quarter. A 3-pointer from junior Jack Zitko with 3:43 remaining in the period gave the home team its biggest lead of the night at 35-23.
Then Waubonsie Valley stormed back in the fourth. They went on a 10-2 run, and a 3 from Payne with 3 minutes left brought the Warriors within 42-39.
The visitors had a couple of chances to tie the contest in the next couple of minutes, but for the most part, the 3-ball wasn’t falling for Waubonsie Valley most of the evening. They finished just 3-of-20 from long range.
Naperville North took advantage and closed out the game at the free throw line. Okyne and Steele each hit a couple of clutch foul shots in the final minute to seal the win.
“We got some good looks tonight for our shooters,” said Schweitzer, “but it just wasn’t our night shooting the ball. But we’re going to keep getting better, and that experience will come.”
Steele led Naperville North with 13 points. Senior Carson Loughlin pitched in with 12 points while Okyne tallied 10.
“We were able to hold them (Waubonsie Valley) off late,” added Steele, “and that says a lot for us. To maintain that lead in the last few minutes, in crunch time, was important. They made some great adjustments at halftime, then we had to adjust.”