St. Charles North advances with ease

St. Charles North's Nick Neari goes to the basket against Rockford Auburn on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Elgin Class 4A Sectional at Chesbrough Field House.
(Shauna Bittle/Staff Photographer)

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ELGIN -- Rockford Auburn looked like someone who stumbled right into the middle of a shooting range Tuesday in the Elgin Class 4A Sectional.

One St. Charles North 3-point attempt after another poured through the hoop in the first quarter. By the time the Knights could gather themselves, the North Stars were well on their way to a 68-52 victory and a berth in Friday's finals against the winner of tonight's Dundee-Crown and McHenry game.

"We watched film of them a couple times and saw they could shoot, but we didn't expect them to shoot like that," said a disbelieving Darnell Van Vleet of Auburn.

The North Stars (22-8) connected on their first seven 3-point shots and didn't miss one until Zach Hirsch had one clank off in the second quarter. By then he'd already made three straight en route to a 14-point night.

Nick Neari made two 3-pointers in the first quarter and went on to a game-high 22 points, while Hirsch had three and David Johnson one as the Stars built a 27-16 lead. St. Charles North closed the quarter with three straight 3's, two by Hirsch, and never led by less than 10 points again.

"It was one of those nights," Neari said. "Everyone. It was really fun playing. Every night I hope it's like that.

"We just drove in and every pass we made out they had an open shot we knew it was going down. It was just a fun atmosphere. There's nothing else to describe it other than it was just fun."

The North Stars had made only one 3-pointer in the regional final win over South Elgin on Friday, but their drive-and-kick game was well defended. On Tuesday it was there for the taking against Auburn (21-9).

"I think we said take open shots, high percentage shots," North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. "With Zach and David, if they're open, that's a high percentage shot. I think the way Rockford Auburn pressures the basketball in turn forces our guards to attack the lane, which then makes (Auburn) help off the shooters, and our guards were good at finding the shooter.

"So then we had a lot of open 3's and luckily they went down. We knew we weren't going to shoot as well the second half, but the shots we took were good shots for the most part."

The North Stars attacked inside for game's remainder as Josh Mikes finished with 15 points and Jonathan DeMoss nine. They built a 45-26 halftime lead with only two second-quarter 3-pointers, had no treys in the second half and led by as many as 20 at 48-28 in the third quarter. North went on to finish 24 of 44 from the field (54 percent).

Auburn made a run behind Ayrryous Ford, who scored 15 points, and Kashif Maxwell, who had 14, and drew within 52-42 early in the fourth quarter.

"We had a timeout and talked about it in a huddle and we got it back together," DeMoss said. "We played defense and rebounded. That was the key."

They outrebounded the more athletic Knights 42-34 for the game and held them to 28 percent from the field (19-for-67). And when Neari got inside for three short baskets and DeMoss another one midway through the fourth quarter, it was over at 60-43 with four minutes left.

"I think we've just been so focused the last few games," Hirsch said.

On Tuesday, they were focused in on the basket from long range.