Naperville North goes young, triumphs
Sophomore Mitch Lewis is a regular in the Naperville North boys basketball team's starting lineup.
On Friday, he was joined by Cam Hardy and Winston Elston.
"This is the first time that all three sophomores have started together," Lewis said. "We've been playing ever since we were little. We know how each of us plays, so it was kind of nice."
Naperville North coach Jeff Powers shook up his lineup's rotation. The Huskies exploded with their best offensive half en route to defeating Glenbard North 67-38 in Carol Stream to complete the first half of DuPage Valley Conference play.
By halftime the Huskies (9-8, 3-2) led 37-15 and had used 12 players. They hit 16 of 30 shots, dominated the boards 19-10 and limited the Panthers (3-12, 0-5) to 2-for-14 3-point shooting and 5 for 23 overall with 12 turnovers.
"We've been averaging 40 (points) a game, so 37 was a lot for us," Powers said. "I'm trying to figure out the right combinations. We were 8-8 and 8-8 is not good enough for our program. We said that we've got to find something, do something different. It worked pretty well."
Opening with seniors Baylor Griffin and Deon Merrill and the sophomores, the Huskies only led 9-8 before they closed out the first quarter with a 10-0 run.
The last eight points came after bringing in seniors Jelani McClain and Zach Tuxhorn, who both have previously started, Tyler Bushman and Chris Gajcak.
"Honestly, it did (help switching the lineup) because we felt renewed," Tuxhorn said. "Jelani and I really just wanted to help out the sophomores and give an extra boost to the team. We really just wanted to put the game out of the way."
After two free throws by the Panthers to open the second quarter, the Huskies went on a 13-0 run to pull away 31-11. Bushman scored twice inside off passes from McClain and senior Brian Dalton had two buckets.
"I would think this is the best half we've ever had (this season)," Tuxhorn said. "Overall, we shot the ball really well. We rebounded very well. We listened to coach. We got out and ran a little bit, which is good, and that's why I think we had such a high-scoring half."
The Huskies led 52-23 after three quarters. They also scored 66 points in beating Marmion on Dec. 9 but scored more than 50 points in regulation only four other times.
"Our intensity rebounding on both ends was tremendous and this was the first time in a long time where the ball got pushed up the floor," Powers said. "Just going to the boards hard after misses was really, really good. (Defensively) we pretty much did a good job of denying them easy looks."
Glenbard North once again started three juniors and two sophomores. Junior Michael Matkovic led the Panthers with 10 points and had two of their seven 3s.
"I thought (Naperville North) played really, really well so you've got to give them a lot of credit," Glenbard North coach Joe Larson said. "We got a lot of good looks and it just did not go down. We were stuck on 8 points for a long time. We dug ourselves a hole there at halftime. I thought the guys kept fighting, kept battling. It was just not our night."
Hardy added 9 points. While Griffin had 8 of his 18 points in the first quarter, nobody else for the Huskies scored more than 7 overall. Lewis also had a monster first quarter with 4 of his 6 points, 6 of his 7 rebounds and 2 of his 3 assists.
"I wasn't really going for posting. I just wanted to do whatever I could for the team and that's what it was," Lewis said. "I think that both lineups (we rotated with) are strong. In practice, those were what the lineups were so we had the chemistry."