Short-handed North Stars fall short at East Aurora

No coach wants to be short-handed, especially when they are playing on the road at East Aurora.

That's the predicament St. Charles North found itself in Tuesday. The North Stars made the best of the bad situation, rallying from an early 11-point hole to take leads in both the third and fourth quarters.

They had bench players logging heavy minutes, they had starters stepping up with the best games of their seasons.

They just didn't quite have an answer for Ryan Boatright.

The sophomore who gained national headlines committing to USC after eighth grade showed why he's in such demand, scoring 14 of his game-high 27 points in the fourth quarter of East Aurora's 76-67 victory.

St. Charles North (19-8, 7-3) held its last lead at 60-58 on a basket from Mike Kastel, one of those starters who delivered without Josh Mikes (academics) and Jonathan DeMoss (sat out the final 27:50 with his elbow injury).

Boatright followed by driving, scoring and getting fouled, completing the three-point play for a 61-60 lead with 3:57 remaining. He followed with a 3-pointer and another drive to put he Tomcats up 66-60.

After Nick Neari and Kastel scored to bring the North Stars within 66-64 with 1:18 left, Boatright broke the press and took the ball the length of the court, again scoring on a drive for a 68-64 advantage. The North Stars never got closer in the final minute.

"You just have to pray he doesn't make shots," St. Charles North junior David Johnson said. "He's a real good player. There's not much you can do with him."

Johnson came off the bench with 14 points. Kastel had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds as the North Stars found a way to stay in the game without DeMoss and Mikes.

"This is good for us to build on and move forward for (regionals)," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. "David stepped up as he really has done whenever he gets minutes. He produces and he defends. There's a reason his minutes increase each game because he earns them and he earns them in practice. David makes us a better team on both ends of the court.

"Mike was a beast. He was all over the boards. He was running the floor with guys who are smaller and quicker that are tough matchups for him. He was real big for us tonight."

East Aurora (18-7, 7-2) jumped out 17-6. Neari brought the North Stars back within 34-33 at halftime.

Neari went toe-to-toe with Boatright, scoring 21 points and dishing 9 assists. He added 4 steals and 4 rebounds.

"I don't know if I've been more proud of guys," Poulin said. "They played with heart, they played with passion. That's a very good basketball team, real hard to guard. Couple errors going down the stretch but for 32 minutes they did what we asked, they played as hard as they could. They believed they were going to walk out of here with a win."

Poulin said Mikes will be back next Tuesday for the regional opener, and he also is hoping DeMoss will return.

DeMoss tried playing Tuesday but came out midway through the first quarter and did not return. The four-year player has been playing with an injured elbow all season since hurting it in football.

"Jon has needed surgery on that elbow all season," Poulin said. "He'll get it looked at, see if he can continue. Honestly I'm not sure what his status is. It's more precautionary, last game of the year, there's no reason to throw him out there and seriously injure it.

"Josh has already begun taking care of that and we'll have a full team Tuesday."

East Aurora will be without Will Brown when it begins tournament play. But the Tomcats do have junior Trammell Weathersby back. He scored 15 points Tuesday, including 10 in the third quarter.

"He was a little disappointed at halftime with his playing time, but I told him we were trying to protect him with 2 fouls so he could play freely in the second half," East Aurora coach Wendell Jeffries said.

There were 10 lead changed and 6 ties in the game until Boatright put the Tomcats ahead to stay midway through the fourth quarter.

"Boatright has a whole other gear," Jeffries said. "He stepped up big."