North dispatches Larkin

Nick Neari

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DEKALB -- St. Charles North's Nick Neari picked a great time to have a spectacular night.

Neari posted a career-high 30 points to go along with six assists, six steals and a block as the top-seeded but undermanned North Stars knocked off upset-minded Larkin 71-59 on Tuesday night at the DeKalb Class 4A Regional.

"They gave me space and my teammates really stepped up by hitting shots which kept them on their guys instead of coming to me," Neari said.

Added St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin: "What Nick does a really good job of is if they're going to play right up in (his) shirt, (he goes) by them. We didn't call an offense play there for quite a well -- other than a ball screen -- and we let Nick decide what to do with it."

Josh Mikes also finished with a strong night, totaling 18 points, five rebounds and two steals. Larkin finished with three players in double figures, led by Drew Simonini's 13 points.

Top-seeded St. Charles North (20-8) quickly found itself on its heels to open the game. Starter Jon DeMoss left the game after injuring his knee with 5:17 left and the fifth-seeded Royals (8-20) jumped out to a 13-5 lead on a basket by Terell John with 4:03 left. DeMoss would not return.

"They came in with a ton of confidence," said Poulin, a first-time 20-game winner. "We didn't come out with much energy."

However, Neari and the North Stars would stop the bleeding and after Zach Hirsch connected on one of four 3's on the night with 1:04 left, captured their first lead of the game at 16-15.

"He does everything for us," Neari said of DeMoss. "Once he's out, it's up to the rest of the team to step up and pick up the slack."

The game remained tight until North closed the second quarter on a 7-0 surge punctuated by a Mikes steal and floater just inside the arc as time expired to send the North Stars into the locker room up 34-25.

The Royals shot just 4 of 12 in the second quarter and committed six turnovers, but would battle back in the third.

A Mikes three-point play with 6:02 to go in the third put the North Stars up 11 but just over a minute and a half later Simonini would nail one of his three triples on the evening to bring Larkin to within 43-37.

Unfortunately for the Royals, the duo of Neari and Mikes would combine to close out the quarter with an 11-4 run to push North's lead to 12 heading into the fourth. Neari finished with 10 in the quarter and was joined at that plateau by Mikes.

"When he gets touches he's going to have a big night," Poulin said of Mikes. "When our perimeter guys are playing well it really opens things up in our offense for our bigs. Josh stepped up."

The North Stars would score the first six points of the fourth quarter to open an 18-point lead, their biggest of the night. Larkin would only come within 12 the rest of the way.

After finding enthusiasm and energy late in the season, Larkin went out fighting.

"Playing back-to-back is not easy in this regional," Larkin coach Larry Hight said. "It might have taken a toll on us. They extended a lot of energy (in Monday's overtime win over St. Charles East) and I think it kind of caught up with us. I'm proud of our seniors. We've improved a lot this year."

One of those seniors was Brandon Cooks, who finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.

"We felt like we could handle it today," Cooks said. "We had the lead and we let it slide. We just didn't have as much intensity as we did yesterday."

The North Stars will next meet either second-seeded South Elgin or the third-seeded host DeKalb on Friday night.

Hirsch finished with 12 points and four rebounds, while Mike Kastel added five points and seven boards.

John tallied 11 points and Jeff Saurbaugh finished with nine points and six assists.

Poulin said that DeMoss was cleared to return but as a precaution decided to keep him on the bench. He expects him to play Friday.