Naperville N. better than 'close'

"Close" has been a frustrating theme for Naperville North early in the season.

It wasn't going to work Tuesday night.

After a string of near misses, the Huskies finished strong in a 49-42 nonconference boys basketball victory over visiting Benet.

The Huskies (3-4) trailed the entire game until three minutes remained. Once they finally claimed the lead, they never looked back.

"We kind of won the war of two teams searching for an identity," said Huskies coach Mark Lindo. "The frustration of not finishing games and being defeated at the free-throw line has been something that's eaten at us. I thought we played much better the second half."

Benet (2-3) took its biggest lead of 30-19 early in the third quarter on 3-pointers by Brian Gaughan and Ryan Haggerty and a tip-in by 6-foot-8 Joe Meyerhoff, who had 8 points and 14 rebounds.

Naperville North chipped away until making its decisive run midway through the fourth quarter. The Redwings weathered a technical foul call against them and had two 1-and-1 free-throw chances that could have extended their lead to 8 points.

Benet twice missed the front end, however, opening the door for the Huskies. They scored the next 8 points -- including 6-of-6 free-throw shooting -- to take the lead for good at 37-35 on Casey Domek's jumper.

Naperville North thrived at the free-throw line, knocking down of 13 of 18 fourth-quarter attempts and 25 of 33 attempts for the game.

Six-eight sophomore Matt Hasse did the bulk of the damage at the line, hitting 10 of his 12 attempts. Hasse scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

"We've had some close games, so we just wanted to come out strong and make sure we came out with a good win," he said.

Benet, successful on only 9 of its 16 free-throw attempts, especially struggled offensively in the fourth quarter. The Redwings made 2 of 11 shots from the field and were held scoreless for a five-minute span in the period.

Haggerty, who scored 10 points along with Gaughan, nailed a 3-pointer to pull the Redwings within 45-42 with 20 seconds left. The Huskies, though, responded with four straight free throws.

Naperville North's Jake Hasse added 10 points while Tom Walsh scored 7 of his 9 points in the second half.

"We just need to learn how to put people away," said Benet coach Marty Gaughan. "That's something we need to address a little bit."