Neuqua Valley lures St. Charles N. into trap

Neuqua Valley center Danny Pawelski says his team's full-court trapping defense can make life miserable for opposing team's offenses.

St. Charles North found that out all too well Thursday night when the Wildcats worked their pressure to perfection, charging to a 24-4 lead on the visiting North Stars (2-4, 1-1). Neuqua forced 9 turnovers in the first quarter on its way to an 83-55 Upstate Eight Conference boys basketball victory in Naperville.

"If we can put pressure on the ball like that, it's going to be misery on teams trying to run their offense," said Pawelski, who also shined on the offensive end with 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting. "That's a great way to start a game."

Wildcats coach Todd Sutton agreed with his senior center's assessment of his team's fast start, which included a 17-1 lead before St. Charles North's Zach Hirsch dropped in a 3-pointer for the visitors' first field goal of the night.

"It was an outstanding start. We had high energy and really got into a flow," Sutton said. "Everything you want to do, we did early."

TJ Jordan, whose high energy led to 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, opened the night's scoring with a putback on Neuqua's first possession. Graham Smith and Anton Wilkins followed with baskets for a 6-0 lead and, following a North Stars free throw, Pawelski capped an 8-0 run with three straight baskets for a 17-1 lead.

"We wanted to jump on them right away," Pawelski said. "Our guards were all over them and they were putting on great pressure."

The turnovers led to a number of easy baskets by the Wildcats (5-2, 2-0) and, despite a strong effort all night, the North Stars never could recover from the big, early hole. With Jonathan DeMoss sinking 7 of 8 free throws, St. Charles North closed to within 36-25 at the half and trailed by a more respectable 56-42 deficit after three quarters.

"We made too many mistakes on both ends of the floor," North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. "I thought our guys did a good job of battling back after spotting them 20 points, but that's too big (a hole) especially against a team like this."

Anton Wilkins hit a pair of 3s and had 12 points to join Pawelski and Jordan to give the Wildcats three players to score in double figures.

For St. Charles North, Nick Neari led the way with 14 points and Hirsch finished with a pair of 3-pointers and 12 total points. DeMoss hit his first field goal -- a 3 -- with 3:19 left to play and finished with 10 points.