North Stars advance in a knockout
St. Charles North's 3-point shooting left Rockford Auburn Stars-struck Tuesday night.
The North Stars trailed Auburn 9-8 midway through the first quarter before they zeroed in from long range and sank 7 straight 3-point attempts in a span of 3:59.
The sharpshooting display fueled a 22-7 run that staked St. Charles North to a 30-16 lead early in the second quarter. Auburn never pulled closer than 10 points the rest of the game, and the North Stars advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 68-42 victory in semifinal action at the Class 4A Elgin sectional.
St. Charles North (22-8) will compete for a boys basketball sectional title for the first time in school history on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of tonight's second semifinal between Dundee-Crown (21-5) and McHenry (16-12).
"If we're shooting well from the outside, it's pretty tough to defend us," said St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin, who was also pleased by 15 points and 4 rebounds by sophomore forward Josh Mikes.
Senior guard Nick Neari, who scored 22 points to go with 7 assists and 5 rebounds, opened the shooting onslaught with back-to-back 3-pointers from opposite sides of the arc to give the North Stars a 14-9 lead.
Senior Zach Hirsch sank all three 3-point attempts he took in the first quarter, and reserve guard David Johnson added a pair, including his team's seventh straight 3-pointer with 7:38 left in the second quarter that gave North its 30-16 cushion.
"We thought they would get up on us, but they didn't," Johnson said of Auburn's guards. "They were waiting for us to attack them. We were surprised by that so we sized them up."
The North Stars were shooting 33.7 percent from 3-point range entering the sectional, but they canned 8-of-14 shots from long range against the Knights (57.1 percent). Hirsch credited Neari and senior guard Jonathan DeMoss (9 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists) for driving and drawing double coverage before they passed the ball to open shooters on the perimeter.
"That's really been key all year - Jon and Nick penetrating and pitching - and when we're open we usually hit it," said Hirsch, who finished with 14 points. "Tonight was one of those nights when we were penetrating, pitching and hitting our shots."
The perimeter barrage caught the Knights by surprise, especially since the North Stars made only 1 attempt from 3-point range in their regional title victory over South Elgin last Friday.
"We watched them on film and knew they could shoot real good, but we didn't know they were that good," Auburn senior guard Darnell Van Vleet said. "We gave up penetration and they kicked the ball. We had hands up. A couple of shots they made I actually touched the shooter's hand and he still made it. You can't stop that as a defense."
Auburn (21-9) had a chance to get back in the game in the third quarter, when their defense forced 8 turnovers by the North Stars and held them to 4 points on 1 field goal. However, Auburn shot 4 of 11 from the field in the period and couldn't draw closer than 49-39 through the end of three quarters.
The North Stars led 52-42 in the fourth quarter until Neari scored 3 straight baskets and DeMoss salted the game away with a driving layup for a 60-43 lead with 4:03 to play.
The St. Charles North defense held Auburn to 52 points, mainly by playing straight-up man to man.
"It's just been a mindset," Poulin said of how the North Stars have defended in the playoffs. "It's been an attitude that we're going to go one stop at a time on the defensive end. Our seniors have really taken a leadership role. They want to keep playing basketball. They're still hungry.
"I'm really proud of our leaders, our captains. They're focused. They come to work every day and they're going to play one stop at a time until someone scores more points than we do."