Boys basketball: St. Charles North heading in right direction in win over Wheaton Academy

AURORA – St. Charles North has struggled through a 7-15 record this season.

Senior Parker Reinke’s effort Jan. 27 at the East Aurora Ernie Kivisto Hoopfest might have pointed the North Stars in the right direction.

Reinke’s 33 points, including 15 in the third quarter, propelled the North Stars to a 72-60 victory over Wheaton Academy.

“His third-quarter run alone won the game for them,” Wheaton Academy coach Daniel Smith said. “He was a tough matchup for us.”

Reinke, a senior forward, was 9-of-18 from the floor, 5-of-10 from beyond the 3-point arc and 10-of-13 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed five rebounds.

“We were upset about the multiple losses,” Reinke said. “We had the mindset we wanted to get a win and head in the right direction. We have a very unselfish team.”

St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin praised the senior.

“Parker had a great game,” Poulin said. “He hit the 3 and did a great job of dribble penetration and getting to the basket. Parker and the whole team did a great job of getting to the free-throw line.”

Leading 28-26 at halftime, the North Stars outscored Wheaton Academy 24-15 in the third quarter.

St. Charles North (8-15) scored the first eight points of the quarter – six from Reinke – and the North Stars led 36-26 with 5:22 left in the third quarter.

Wheaton Academy didn’t score until the 4:40 mark of the third quarter when Alex Moncau hit a 3-pointer to make it 36-29.

That was as close as the Warriors (11-8) would get.

A 3-pointer by Reinke at the buzzer gave the North Stars a 52-39 lead after three quarters.

Jake Furtney, who was 7-of-7 from the line, had 13 points and 12 rebounds for St. Charles North.

The North Stars connected on 23-of-28 (82%) from the free-throw line.

“We had trouble making shots early but we did a good job of taking the ball to the basket,” Poulin said. “We did a good job of getting to the line.”

Freshman Hayden Schroeder paced Wheaton Acadmey with 18 points and six rebounds. Wandy Munoz scored 15 points. Moncau had 14 points, including three 3-pointers.

“This is a good game to play at this time of the year,” Smith said. “The third quarter really hurt us. We had a lot of matchup problems with them.”