Metea Valley turns the tables on St. Charles North
Metea Valley's boys basketball team played a game of role reversal Wednesday night.
Junior guard/forward Jeremy Hunter came off the bench to pour in a team-high 17 points with 7 rebounds during the Mustangs' 76-55 victory over St. Charles North (1-1) during the third day of the 57th annual Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament at St. Charles East.
Hunter's effort was just a part of the story for the Mustangs, as their reserves combined for 59 points - 4 more than the North Stars' entire total.
"Last summer we talked about how we could throw some waves at people," said Metea Valley coach Bob Vozza. "I thought we had a good start from our starters but they took off in that second quarter with that second group.
"They did it again in the second half so left them out there to get some minutes. Those guys responded."
Trailing 19-15 after North Stars senior guard Michael Schroeder knocked down a pair of free throws, the Mustangs answered with an 11-0 surge to take a 26-19 lead.
Hunter scored 6 of the 11 points, all on layups, as the Mustangs' defensive pressure led to easy baskets at the other end of the court.
"We didn't play as well last game so we wanted to come out and set a spark," said Hunter. "Whatever we need to do, we did it off the bench."
Metea Valley (1-1) stretched its lead to 34-24 early in the third quarter on a 3-point basket from junior guard Ashton Creal before the North Stars pulled to within 4 at 36-32 on a pair of free throws by Jarod Karom with 1:44 left in the period.
The Mustangs closed out the quarter with a 12-1 run, fueled by 3-pointers from Matt Helwig and Creal, to extend their lead to 48-33 and effectively seal the decision.
Creal and starter Harrison Kranz finished with 12 points apiece for the Mustangs while Jayden Reed, Ben Jones and Helwig came off the bench to add 8 points each.
"It's a good problem to have," Vozza said of his bench. "It's hard to keep them off the court. We've got to work it through but it's about the end result - getting the W. It's going to help us down the road for sure."
Vozza was pleased with his team's quick turnaround on the heels of Tuesday night's 68-64 loss to Downers Grove South (2-0).
"It's a good response," said Vozza. "I thought we played well against a good team last night but it's a tough tournament so you've got to get ready to go the next game."
Schroeder paced the North Stars with 22 points while junior forward Griffin Hammer added 11 points and 7 rebounds before fouling out with 3:06 remaining.
St. Charles North committed 23 turnovers while shooting just 28 percent (13 of 46) from the field.
"We're trying to figure a lot out," said North Stars coach Tom Poulin. "We said that when we walked in (Tuesday) and we said it when we walked out - even though we had a nice win (68-65 overtime victory over Plainfield East).
"This tournament is going to be great for us. We'll find out a lot about ourselves collectively and individually. We learned right now that if you guard us, we're not very tough. We can fix that at practice. They just played harder and at a different tempo than we did."