St. Charles East, North suffer losses
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.
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.
Boys basketball
East Aurora 78, St. Charles East 54: Everyone knows there's no better place in the area to watch a high school basketball game than East Aurora's storied gymnasium.
But just how much is that home court advantage worth to the Tomcats?
Try 20 points, at least from St. Charles East's perspective.
Two weeks ago the Saints played a competitive game against the Tomcats for 32 minutes at St. Charles East's Thanksgiving tournament before losing 56-52.
Thursday in Aurora it was an entirely different story. The Tomcats gave their fans plenty to cheer about, hitting eight 3-pointers, forcing 24 turnovers and converting one easy layup after another in a 78-54 victory.
And East Aurora (5-2, 2-0) did it without its best player, sophomore Tramell Weathersby who is suspended for disciplinary reasons. It didn't matter, as the Tomcats outscored the Saints 26-12 in the third quarter to extend their 7-point halftime lead to 21.
"East Aurora feeds off energy at home and we didn't make enough plays in that third quarter so they had the energy the entire quarter," St. Charles East coach Brian Clodi said.
East Aurora starters Weathersby and Andrew Dockery both missed last weekend. Dockery, a 6-foot-5 junior, returned Thursday and scored 16 points off the bench. The Tomcats bench outscored St. Charles East 34-5.
"It's an energetic crowd here," East Aurora coach Wendell Jeffries said. "The kids love playing here."
Ryan Hayden led East Aurora with 17 points. Freshman Ryan Boatright, who committed to USC this summer, added 10.
Collin Pryor scored the Saints' first 8 points and finished with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals.
-- John Lemon
Men's basketball
ECC 81, Kishwaukee College 70: Elgin Community College was led by Ryan Harris, who had a game-high 31 points in this nonconference win. Steve Bilisko added 14 points and Jordan Teegarden had 13 for the Spartans.
Women's basketball
ECC 57, Kishwaukee College 44: Elgin Community College defeated Kiswhaukee College 57-44 in a nonconference game. Ariana Topps and De'Larissa Morris led the Spartans with 12 points apiece. Meaghan Staley-Gamble added 9 points, and Karina Herrera added 8.