Back to real hoops; no more mockeries of the game

Did Santa bring you everything you wanted?

With a 4-year-old and 2-year-old at home, this time of year has never been more fun for me.

But this year it's better than ever, and that's because Christmas for me didn't stop Dec. 25.

Nope, this year, I got another gift Friday night.

I asked to see a real basketball game again, and that's just what I got: St. Charles North 60, Prairie Ridge 49.

That was the final score. And numbers I liked even better: North Stars 11 of 14 at the free-throw line; Prairie Ridge 10 for 11.

Quite a difference from Tuesday in DeKalb, the last game I saw, when Geneva went to the line 67 times in a 96-67 win over North Grand.

Any team with Jeremy D'Amico is typically going to shoot a lot of free throws. Like David Bryant at Batavia and Jon DeMoss at St. Charles North, D'Amico is great at drawing contact and getting to the line.

Maybe that's where the problem started. North Grand felt D'Amico was getting to the line too much. Maybe they thought they weren't getting a fair shake from the officials.

But the way they handled it, fouling Geneva every time the Vikings touched the ball in the fourth quarter, led to one of the strangest games I've ever seen. Those 67 free throw attempts and 53 makes were third- and second-best all-time in Illinois history, according to Geneva coach Phil Ralston, who said he had never seen anything like it.

"I don't know the point they were trying to make," Ralston said. "I've never coached in a game like that."

Luckily, there were none of those shenanigans Friday night at Jacobs, where St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin is once again watching his team jell at this tournament.

For the second year in a row, his North Stars are building momentum for the second half of the season by making an impressive run at Jacobs. They are 6-1 there the last two years, and they get a chance to avenge that one loss, to Jacobs, in the championship game tonight.

Jacobs won that game 82-53 last year, making their first 12 shots in the second half.

"The kids have nightmare from last year, they played pretty well early and then got run out of gym," Poulin said.

Senior center Mike Kastel is one of those players who remembers.

"We have been thinking of that ever since the game ended," Kastel said.

"All I remember from that game last year is taking everything we had coming to this point and just getting blown out. All I can say is we're not the same team."

Not the same team, but a lot of the same players who are gaining confidence each time out.

"What I do like is that our guys expected to be here (championship game), and I like that confidence," Poulin said. "For whatever people throw at us, we've got an answer."

Just 3-4 entering the Jacobs tournament, St. Charles North now has a 4-game winning streak. If the North Stars would have rebounded like they did against Prairie Ridge, they would never have been 3-4. They would never have lost to Neuqua Valley in a game they were outrebounded 51-26. How often do you see the same team get outrebounded by 25 and then outrebound an opponent by 23 in a span of two weeks?

"Between the ears a lot more confidence," Poulin continued in comparing this year's team with last year. "I like our size and strength and athleticism at pretty much every position. I think we complement each other pretty well. Last year we worked very hard at this tournament to find roles and come together, but this team now has already done that. They know what they need to do."

Now we'll see if they can do it against a team that beat them so soundly a year ago. And we'll see if Geneva can bring home a title at DeKalb, where they lost in the championship game in 2005 to Larkin.

Two Tri-Cities teams going for tournament titles in the same night. See, the presents just keep on coming.

jlemon@dailyherald.com