Stars finish off Proviso E.

Less than 24 hours after experiencing a difficult 2-point defeat at the hands of Proviso West, St. Charles North's basketball team got another opportunity to play in a down-to-the-wire finish Saturday afternoon.

This time, the story had a different ending.

Two free throws from Zach Hirsch with 1:02 remaining broke a 48-48 tie, and teammates Nick Neari and Jonathon DeMoss each added free throws down the stretch to help lift the North Stars to a 52-48 victory over Proviso East (1-3) in the consolation championship of the 50th annual Coach Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Invitational held at St. Charles East.

"We had some guys step up in different situations," said North Stars coach Tom Poulin. "We were more aggressive and more confident than we were yesterday (Friday)."

Neari scored a game-high 18 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists for the North Stars (2-2), who finished with one more victory than they had in last year's tournament.

"We had a couple lapses in our earlier games, but we fought back tonight," Neari said of his team's defense.

After Neari split a pair of free throws to make it 51-48 with 12 seconds left, a 3-point attempt by Pirates guard Rishaad Alexander (17 points) caromed off the front rim and into the hands of DeMoss, whose foul shot with 1.2 seconds remaining iced the decision.

Trailing by as many as 7 points midway through the first quarter, the North Stars received a huge lift from their bench during their second-period comeback.

Sophomore Josh Mikes' layup gave the North Stars their first lead of the game at 17-15 with 5:12 left in the opening half.

After the Pirates rattled off 6 unanswered points to go up 21-17, senior center Mike Kastel converted a 3-point play and junior guard David Johnson drained a 3-pointer from the corner to help provide the North Stars with a 24-23 halftime advantage.

"I hope that the last two days, battling Proviso West and Proviso East right down to the final buzzer should give us confidence," said Poulin. "This tournament puts a spotlight on what we need to get better at and what level of intensity we need to play at.

"We need to take care of the basketball a little bit better than we have been and we have to handle full-court pressure better."

Mike Kastel and Mikes each had 8 points for the North Stars, while Brenton Little added 14 points for the Pirates.

"They haven't realized how good they can be yet - some of the guys individually and as a team," said Poulin.

In the seventh-place game, St. Charles East senior forward Kevin Senechalle turned in his fourth consecutive double-double with 30 points and 13 rebounds during the Saints' 81-59 loss to East Aurora (2-2).

Matt Jurewicz and Zack Burns had 8 points apiece for the Saints (0-4).