Nolan Hurter, Jack Crowley team up to help Downers Grove North take down Oswego East at Night of Hoops

BATAVIA — The bond between Downers Grove North seniors Jack Crowley and Nolan Hurter is undeniable.

As two players, along with a majority of the Trojans' roster, who have been playing together since the second grade on the Downers Grove North Wolfpack, the connection between them is as tight as it can be.

“There’s a reason I know where everyone is at,” said Crowley, a Wisconsin-LaCrosse commit. “There are times where I think I can close my eyes and know where people are at.”

And against Oswego East, it couldn’t be more apparent.

Hurter finished with a game-high 26 points with Crowley assisting on six of his makes to help the Trojans take down the Wolves 50-36 during the 31st annual Jim & Sylvia Robert Night of Hoops on Saturday night.

“Our team is very unselfish and they don’t care who’s doing what, as long as we’re playing well,” Trojans coach Jim Thomas said. “It’s just a one-off of everyone playing the same team basketball as we preach. So it’s nice to see someone step up, another night it’ll be someone else. But it’s nice to see them spread the love a little bit.”

Of Hurter’s seven makes from the floor on the night, six of them came from behind the arc, including three 3-pointers in his 14-point fourth quarter that locked the win away.

“I just really wanted to get my shot going in the game,” Hurter said. “We had a rough game against Glenbard West on Friday, so I just wanted to get our team hot from the 3-point line, and I think we did that, so we’re happy.”

After struggling early on to find the basket, the Trojans (17-4) ended up finding a break midway through the second quarter on the defensive end with Crowley grabbing a couple of steals.

The turnovers led to a 9-0 run for the Trojans, which ultimately gave them a lead they would not give up.

“Oswego East is a team that plays a really tough-nosed defense, and it takes a bit of effort to break them down a bit,” Thomas said. “When we found those holes, we did okay, but they don’t make it easy. So I was proud that our guys kept working on that stuff and finally made it broke.”

Crowley ended up with nine points to go along with his seven assists. Senior Bobby Grganto, who was on the receiving end of Crowley’s only assist not to Hurter on the night, finished with 11 points.

“Just to have facilitators like him on a team is amazing,” Hurter said of Crowley. “He’s such a great leader for our squad and he’s always picking us up and making the right play and great passes. He’s really the core of this team.”

Oswego East (16-6) played the game without senior Mason Lockett and junior Andy Pohlman, who were both out of the contest with injuries.

But while they were down two starters, head coach Ryan Velasquez said that he was proud of the competitiveness that his team brought to the game, even while struggling to score in the second half.

“Credit to Downers Grove North, they play that zone defense so well,” Velasquez said. “But this game was good for us as a learning experience. It gave guys an opportunity to play and step up a bit, and that’s what we wanted to see.”

One player that Velasquez felt stepped up a lot was senior Josh Lopez, who came off the bench and scored eight points, which was second on the Wolves behind senior Lukas Adolfs (nine points).

“That gives us confidence as a coach and trust that we can throw a guy that has some quality minutes under his belt and know we won’t skip a beat,” Velasquez said. “There’s an opportunity for us to see what some other guys can do for us. Even though we lost, there’s definitely some things we can take away from this game.”