St. Charles North's pressure doesn't rattle Plainfield East
Plainfield East basketball coach Branden Adkins knows what his team does best.
"We're about getting up and down the floor," said Adkins. "We run a primary and a secondary break when we have the opportunity to."
St. Charles North found out the hard way Tuesday night, as the North Stars' pressure defense was exploited during the Bengals' 79-65 victory in the first round of the 53rd annual St. Charles East/Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament.
Plainfield East used a 10-1 early run to snap a 10-10 deadlock and led the rest of the way, pulling away by outscoring the North Stars 47-32 in the middle two quarters. Many of those baskets came on uncontested layups.
"They handled our pressure better than we applied it," said North Stars coach Tom Poulin. "They played quicker and faster than we did when they passed out of the initial trap. We didn't act quickly enough and we didn't play hard enough.
"When there are two people on the ball, the three people off the ball have an awful lot of hustling to do and work to get accomplish, and we didn't get it done."
Deontre Brown scored a game-high 23 points for the Bengals, while 6-9 senior center Brian Bennett added a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Bennett used his big body to help neutralize North Stars 6-8 senior center Kyle Nelson. Nelson finished with a team-leading 22 points and 6 boards.
"He was real physical with Kyle," said Poulin. "That's good for him, especially early on in the year because he hasn't seen that in practice."
A tap-in by junior Quinten Payne, who added 20 points and 7 rebounds, cut the Bengals' lead to 51-40 with 2:44 left in the third quarter.
But Plainfield East closed out the period on a 10-2 run to extend the lead back to 61-42 heading into the fourth quarter. The surge included Bennett's 3-point play, Brown's steal and layup, and an easy basket by Austin Robinson (13 points).
"We're trying to play fast," said Poulin. "We're trying to speed teams up and force them into some hurried decisions. But they're not going to make any poor decisions when they're shooting layups.
"Teams will make some poor decisions when we get back, stop the ball a second time and maybe get a second trap. A second trap was nonexistent tonight."
Myles Walters and Mack Brown added 8 and 7 points, respectively, for the Bengals.
"I was surprised they kept pressuring," Adkins said of the North Stars. "I thought eventually they would go zone or end up taking off the pressure and go half-court but maybe that's the way they are."
After double-figure scoring from Nelson and Payne, Kyle Swanson was next in scoring for the North Stars with 6 points.
"You're not going to beat anybody 1-on-5 or 2-on-5," said Poulin. "There were too many possessions that we decided to play that way. We've got to trust our teammates."
St. Charles North will face Thornton Fractional North (0-1) tonight.
"We will improve," said Poulin. "Sometimes you have to go through a couple of these bumps before things smooth themselves out."
In other tournament action, Downers Grove South (1-0) held TF North to 10 second-half points en route to a 62-31 victory. Jerron Wilbut led the Mustangs with 18 points, including three 3-pointers, while Jamall Millison added 16.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph (1-1) defeated East Aurora (0-2) 76-54.