New kids on the Pontiac block
PONTIAC -- Nearing the season's halfway mark, some people are calling Plainfield North the Cinderella of the high school basketball world.
The glass slipper fits the Tigers in the context that they never before had reached the Final Four in a tournament as prestigious as the one staged annually at Pontiac. Nor had they ever defeated a team like Waukegan before or come within a whisker of handing Schaumburg its first loss.
The closest North ever had come before to making some noise was in a one-point loss at LaSalle-Peru during the 2006-07 season. Luke Yaklich still was coaching at L-P then and he was the first to note the Tigers came with a bit of a roar, if not the stripes of a wild cat.
Yaklich since has moved on to Joliet Township. And when his Steelmen spanked North just a few days ago, there were those looking at North's record and calling it inflated by some cupcakes on the late-November and early-December schedule.
There is no such thing as a cupcake at Pontiac -- unless you find one in the cafeteria that serves as a hospitality room for coaches and officials and the like or want to poke fun at the host Indians for getting in a little over their heads.
North rallied from a 15-2 deficit to beat East Moline United Township 50-37 in its tournament opener on Monday. Then, the Tigers scored a shocker, beating top seed Waukegan 62-61 on Tuesday, Chris McMath scoring the winning points on a three-point play with no time remaining.
McMath is one of the Tigers' three players who have spent four years playing against junior varsity or varsity competition. The argument can be made they're a veteran bunch from top-to-bottom that flies in contradiction of the "newcomer" tag. All five starters return from a team that won 21 games a year ago.
The only newcomer is the coach - Nick DiForti. And he isn't really new to the game of basketball or any of the Tigers. He has been involved with the North program from Day 1, first serving as a volunteer assistant coach and later climbing to the job of head coach.
When Joe Gura departed to take a position at Kankakee Bishop McNamara, some of the Tigers' players and some of their parents approached the powers that be at North and spoke on his behalf.
"It made me feel great, being a young coach at a huge school," DiForti said. "I know there was a lot of tough competition for the job. I appreciate Plainfield North allowing me to be the head coach at such a young age. They had the confidence in me to help their kids become good basketball players."
He has assembled a cast where the sum of the individual parts adds up to an exciting whole. The Tigers do not have a superstar. Nor do they have a Division I prospect. What they do have is great balance. As many as four or five players are capable of scoring in double figures on any given night.
And 6-foot-5 senior Mike Klett starts because he has figured out the importance of playing his role. He sets screens. He bumps and grinds under the basket. He rebounds and plays defense. And he does whatever other dirty work is necessary to help the Tigers come out on top.
"Our kids are friends," DiForti said. "They trust each other, and they trust each other enough to pass each other the ball. Whoever goes off and scores, well, scores. No one is looking up to see that number, saying, 'Oh, I've got to get mine today.' "
The Tigers are winning with an eye toward pushing the ball up the floor a little more than in the past and with twist of Lemon, to be sure. Senior point guard Reggie Lemon is their trigger man. He can break down a defense with his dribble penetration just as easily as he can score on a runner or pull up and rain down a 3.
He also has proven capable of protecting the ball in the face of Waukegan-like defensive pressure. He's a little wisp of electricity that plays much bigger than his 5-6 body would suggest.
"Without Reggie Lemon this team would struggle," DiForti said. "I mean, if you see Reggie Lemon on the floor, you take him for granted. We'll pad his size a little bit -- say he's 5-8. He runs the team. He has turned himself into a very good point guard.
"There are times where I allow him to call the play in the offense we're running, just because I have that confidence in him. Not only that, people don't understand he's a very good defensive player as well.
"He gets his hands on a lot of steals. That part of his game gets overlooked."
The question of where North goes in the second half is one to which DiForti can't wait to find the answer. The conference race is expected to be better than ever, and the playoffs bring the promise of the Tigers erasing the memory of a first-round regional loss to Stagg last season.
"We have a lot holes to patch up, such as with our defense," DiForti said. "As much as everybody around the tournament has been talking about our defense, I'm still not satisfied with it. I know our kids aren't, either.
"Offense seems to come pretty easy for a lot of teams early on, and rightfully so. I think we're -- I don't want to say sitting pretty -- but we have a lot of confidence going into the second half."
The Tigers also are likely to start the new year with a bit of a new look and a bull's-eye collectively affixed on their backside. Don't be surprised if they crack into somebody's top-20 very soon.
email: rkremer@scn1.com
