Huskies have all the answers

Naperville North turns back every Geneva run to win title

OSWEGO - It was a pesky Geneva basketball team that made Naperville North work for Friday's 63-57 decision in the championship game of the Fifth Annual Hoops for Healing Tournament.

"Man, they never went away," Huskies coach Jeff Powers said of the Vikings, who spotted his club an 11-0 lead to open the game. "They're well coached in fundamentals and they play hard."

But they could never quite get over the hump.

Naperville North starts a senior frontline consisting of 6-foot-10 Matt Hasse (10 points, 4 assists), 6-6 tourney MVP James O'Shaughnessy (7 points) and Joe McNicholas (8 points).

"We did the best we could," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "You try to put as much ball pressure as you can, which is tough because they've got quick guards. And you try to match their physical intensity in the post.

"That Hasse kid, holy, moly. He's tough to defend. There were times he'd catch it where he wanted it. He'd duck in the middle of the paint and we're done.

"I told my 6-4 kid to stop the 6-10 kid. Well, he catches it five feet away from the basket. Give me a break. You can't teach DNA."

Even so, Geneva (3-1) was only outrebounded 24-22, and the Vikings' 6-3 Brandon Beitzel had a game-high 10 rebounds to go with his 10 points.

Getting a game-high 23 points from 6-foot-1 senior guard Scott Wendt, Geneva kept cutting the lead under 10 points but the Huskies (4-0) always had an answer, boosting it to as high as 14 on two occasions.

"Naperville North is a very resilient team," Ralston said. "Every time we threw something at them and got it to six or four, they did something back to us we should have been prepared for but just weren't."

The Vikings cut the deficit to six points (20-14) in the second quarter and down to four (51-47) midway through the fourth.

"We had four straight turnovers when it was only a six-point lead," said Ralston, whose club had 14 turnovers but forced 20. "You just can't do that and expect to win games, especially in a game like this where one or two possessions might make the difference."

North took a 51-37 lead on reserve Jake DuPre's basket to open the fourth quarter, but Geneva scored 10 straight. It was capped by Wendt, who alertly followed his own missed 3-pointer to put himself in position for a feed from Will Doeckel (11 points), who grabbed the rebound.

Wendt's floater in the lane made it 51-47 and he was fouled, but missed the free throw.

That's when Huskie sophomore Chris McGee turned it up. He scored eight of his 10 points (including six straight free throws) in the final 3:20.

"Chris was pretty awesome at the end," Powers said. "He took control of the ball, made some free throws, broke then down and got us into a rhythm."

Ralston was impressed.

"I'd like to see him guard himself to see who would win," the Geneva coach said. "And the kid can flat out shoot free throws. Those were pressure free throws.

"Jeff Powers has got a really, really solid team there. They deserved to win."

Oswego 63, Marmion Academy 52 - Seniors Joe Kwiatkowski and Andrew Ziemnik lifted the Panthers in the fourth quarter of the third place game.

Kwiatkowski scored 11 of his game-high 13, including six of seven free throws, in the final period and Ziemnik had seven of his 11 points.

The Cadets, who got 12 points from Graham Glasgow and 10 from Rod Terry, led 32-29 at the half but trailed by three (40-37) after three quarters.

DeKalb 77, Waubonsie Valley 63 - Tyler Perkins had 18 points and Mark Szott added 13 for the Warriors, who trailed 22-13 after one quarter and 41-29 at the half.

Oswego East 73, West Chicago 45 - Kenny Battle had 14 points, Sean Gant 12 and Adam Reaves 11 for the Wolves, who got scoring from 10 players and led 34-22 at the break and cruised with a 22-7 third-quarter advantage.

Boys Basketball:

Hoops For Healing Tournament