Mikes' debut sends North Stars shooting to victory

St. Charles North 53, East Aurora 50

Before the boys basketball season began, St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said Josh Mikes, a newcomer with the North Stars, was the best athlete in the school who had the potential to take the team to a new level.

Poulin wasn't joking. In Mikes' debut on varsity off the bench, the sophomore forward led St. Charles North with 16 points, including a pair of clutch free throws in the North Stars' 53-50 win over East Aurora during opening-round action of St. Charles East's 50th annual Thanksgiving tournament Monday.

"We've got a lot of confidence in Josh," Poulin said. "That's what he does in practice. He can finish around the hoop ... (and) he blends well with our guys. He knocked down some big free throws too, so (I am) real proud of Josh."

"It's a great opportunity for me to come up and play with the varsity team," Mikes said. "East Aurora is a tough team. They played well, but I guess we outplayed them a little more and ran our (plays) better than they did, but they are a tough team."

In the fourth quarter, the North Stars took their largest lead of the game, 47-38, after a bucket from Nick Neari with 6:10 left in the contest. That was the final basket of a 12-0 St. Charles North run that started late in the third quarter after 3 consecutive field goals from Mikes.

After Neari's basket, East Aurora (0-1) went on a run of its own that included back-to-back field goals from Tramell Weathersby - featuring an alley-oop dunk that got the Tomcats fired up. A 3-pointer from Mike Turner capped a 9-0 run and tied the game at 47-47 with 2:33 left in the game.

A pair of DeMoss free throws seconds later gave the North Stars the lead for good. A 3-pointer from East Aurora's Mike Turner kept it close at 50-49, but clutch free throws from Mikes and Mike Lefelstein with less than 24 seconds remaining preserved the North Stars' first win of the season.

"I'm proud of them," Poulin said. "They played well. We'll get to where we want to. It's a marathon, not a sprint, as the old saying goes. This was a nice first step toward what we want to try and accomplish this year."

Aside from Mikes, DeMoss and Neari (10 points each) were the other two North Stars to finish in double digits. Weathersby led all scorers with 17 points for East Aurora.