Bartlett dumps St. Charles North in UEC
What Bartlett boys basketball coach Jim Wolfsmith said in a timeout early in the second half Friday night probably should not be repeated.
But it certainly got the Hawks going.
St. Charles North scored the first 8 points of the second half to tie the game before Wolfsmith called a timeout. The Hawks listened and took an 8-point into the fourth before beating the North Stars, 72-58, in Upstate Eight Conference play in Bartlett.
"He pretty much yelled at us," said Bartlett senior Luke Labedzki, who finished with a game-high 33 points. "He's a big guy. That usually gets us going."
The Hawks (4-2, 2-0) led by as many as 14, 26-12, in the first half. They led by 10 before Beau Blakeley hit a fall-away jumper at the first-half buzzer to get the North Stars (4-3, 2-1) within 8, 41-33.
Kyle Nelson's 3-point play, Josh Mikes' basket and Chris Conrad's 3-pointer to open the second half quickly tied the game at 41-41.
"I reminded them that that is what we didn't want to have happen and now they have to go there and do their jobs all over again," Wolfsmith said. "And they did. They went there and played defense, got some good shots, got the lead again."
Bartlett got the lead back to 8, 53-45, at the end of the third quarter with Labedzki scoring 5 points to lead the Hawks during the 12-4 run.
Labedzki then scored 13 points in the fourth, including a 4-point play with 4:54 after the North Stars got within 4, 55-51. North wouldn't get any closer.
"We did things well in bunches and we did things poorly in bunches," North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. "We didn't stay composed. We let all the elements of being on the road in the Upstate Eight get to us."
No Hawks player other then Labedzki reached double figures in scoring, but there was plenty of balance. Larry Whitaker scored 9 points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds. Frankie Cleope and Mike Banks each added 8 points. Dovovan Coleman had 7 points.
Conrad's 16 points led North. Mikes finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Nelson added 9 points and 10 rebounds. David Johnson had 6 points and 13 rebounds.