Naperville North drops Downers Grove North
Short-handed or not, Naperville North looked like a team on a mission Tuesday night.
The Huskies, playing without all-DuPage Valley Conference sophomore forward Chris Johnson, dominated from the tip in a 50-38 victory over Downers Grove North in the Class 4A Lyons Twp. regional semifinals in LaGrange.
Third-seeded Naperville North (23-4) faces Wednesday's winner between No. 6 York and No. 11 West Chicago in Friday's title game. The Huskies hope to claim their first regional championship since 2006.
"It would mean a lot," said Huskies guard Jelani McClain. "It'd mean a lot to me personally, finally getting a regional championship. But right now we're just taking it one game at a time."
After Johnson became sick at school on Tuesday, the Huskies' leading scorer and rebounder tried to warm up before the game. Just minutes before tip, however, he was too sick to play and E.J. Vaughn started in his place.
Led by junior Mitch Lewis, though, the Huskies seemed to thrive on the adversity and broke out to an 11-1 lead after a quarter and 23-7 midway through the second quarter. Fourteenth-seeded Downers North (14-14) was without a field goal for the first 11 minutes of the game, but recovered to narrow the gap to 30-25 late in the third quarter.
"Our kids have been resilient all year," said Trojans coach Jim Thomas. "For the most part we executed our game plan. We just didn't score well enough tonight."
Behind a game-high 17 points from Lewis - who sat the final 6:34 of the second quarter with foul trouble - the Huskies never let the Trojans come closer than 30-25. A 13-2 run spanning the third and fourth quarter sent the margin out of reach at 43-27.
"Last year we lost against West Aurora (in the regional semifinals), so now it's nice to get over that hump," Lewis said. "We're ready for York or West Chicago. Just have two more days of practice and be ready Friday."
Eight players scored for balanced Naperville North, including 10 points from McClain and 5 points and 8 rebounds from Vaughn. Bryan Jakobsze paced Downers North with 12 points while leading scorer Devin Blake, who left the gym wearing a walking boot on his right leg, had 8 points.
"Our kids know their roles and we have some depth and everyone that comes in does their job," said Huskies coach Jeff Powers. "I don't think (playing without Johnson) fazed the kids. That's a credit to our boys."
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