North Stars defeat rival Saints again

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ST. CHARLES -- St. Charles East controlled the tempo, but St. Charles North won the game Saturday.

Normally a team that prefers to run, the host North Stars seemed undeterred when the Saints came at them with a zone defense. The game's plodding pace didn't slow streaking North as it picked up its sixth straight win with a 53-42 Upstate Eight Conference triumph at North.

Senior Zach Hirsch was the key zone breaker, knocking down five 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 17 points for North (13-5, 5-1), which beat the Saints for the third time in four meetings and improved to 9-5 in the all-time series between the schools.

"I think our game last weekend against Geneva really helped us a lot because they really slowed the game down on us," Hirsch said. "We're starting to come together as a team and we can really play at any tempo."

The North Stars never trailed and seemed to be baiting the Saints when East (3-14, 1-5) remained in its zone defense early in the second half despite trailing by eight points at halftime.

However, the approach nearly paid off for the Saints as they slowly crept back into contention before Tim Russell's 3-pointer with 4:19 left cut North's lead to 40-38 and sent a jolt through a gym that was full but relatively docile for much of the game.

Russell's shot capped a 10-0 run for East, but it also seemed to wake up the North Stars, who quickly picked up the pace and tallied seven unanswered points.

Senior Nick Neari fueled the end of the run, scoring a basket, making a steal on the ensuing inbounds pass and scoring again seconds later on a putback to put North back in command 47-38 with 2:40 remaining.

East was also dealt a blow in the middle of the run as senior standout Kevin Senechalle picked up his fifth foul with 3:06 left. Saddled with foul trouble for much of the night, Senechalle was limited to six points and seven rebounds on 3-of-6 shooting.

"(Senechalle) knows he has to play smart in big games," East coach Brian Clodi said. "At times he's just so aggressive that he just goes brain dead. He knows for us to be successful he needs to be on the floor and get more than six shots up."

Senior Zach Scott led East with 12 points but was only 2 for 10 from 3-point range. The Saints finished 15 of 47 (31.9 percent) from the field.

Neari tallied 13 points and senior Jon DeMoss added 10 points.

The guard duo also played leading roles in breaking down East's defense by attacking the zone and kicking out to Hirsch. Neari finished with a game-high four assists while DeMoss had three assists.

"Jonathan and Nick do a real good job of making two people guard one," North coach Tom Poulin said. "You have to kind of pick your poison and allow Jon and Nick to get into the paint or stop the penetration and allow Zach a look at the 3, and Zach was on fire tonight."

BOX SCORE

St. Charles East (3-14, 1-5)