Wheaton North tops West Chicago
After a lackluster first quarter Wheaton North turned things around quickly en route to a 72-45 DuPage Valley Conference-opening victory over West Chicago Friday night.
The host Wildcats (1-3, 0-1) jumped out to an early lead as forward Justin Mundt attacked the Falcons' defense with 9 first-quarter points, including a buzzer-beater at the end of the quarter to stake West Chicago to a 20-17 lead.
Wheaton North (4-1,1-0) seized control of the game via a 12-2 run to start the second quarter. Guard Ed Norris hit three 3-pointers to lead the charge and the Falcons never trailed again.
Wheaton North parlayed the strong start to the second quarter into a 36-24 halftime lead.
"We knew they wanted to come out and have a fast start," said Wheaton North forward Nick Barry. "We knew if we kept putting pressure on them they would crack and we could get the lead."
After the Falcons found their shooting touch in the second quarter, they turned to the 6-foot-6 Barry in the third quarter to keep the Wildcats' defense off balance.
"We were more concerned on not giving up uncontested jump shots and that opened up the middle for Barry," West Chicago coach Kevin Baldus said.
Barry scored eight of his team-high 17 points in the third quarter as he continually backed down the undersized West Chicago front court.
"They're not that big of a team and we wanted to go with what was working tonight," Barry said. "My shots were falling and we hit some 3s and it worked."
Barry added 8 rebounds and a steal to compliment his 17 points.
The bright spot for West Chicago was the play of the junior Mundt, as he valiantly tried to keep the Wildcats within striking distance. Mundt finished with a game-high 21 points as well as 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
"We came out strong then folded as the game went on, but we're a young team and it's kind of to be expected," Mundt said of his team's inexperience.
"They went on a run and I had to step it up, but we have to make more shots," Mundt said. "They're a good 3-point shooting team so we wanted to go 1-on-1 in the post to stay on their shooters, then Barry took over and we couldn't stop him 1-on-1, so we started cracking down on him and then they hit their outside shots. We just have to be tougher."