Ashton Stern’s sensational 3rd quarter leads Johnsburg to blowout win against Richmond-Burton

JOHNSBURG – Held scoreless in the first half, Johnsburg guard Ashton Stern received extra words of encouragement from coach Mike Toussaint at halftime Tuesday against Richmond-Burton.

“I told him when we came out at halftime, you know you’re stone-cold sniper,” Toussaint said of his 6-foot-4 junior. “Keep shooting. I really don’t tell any of my guys to stop, so just told him keep firing.”

“He’s confident. His teammates are confident in him.”

After misfiring on all four shots in the first half, Stern made his first two 3-pointers of the second. Then after missing his third, Stern stole a ball near midcourt and pulled up for another 3 – swish.

Not done yet, the confident Skyhawk made two more 3s and finished his sensational night with five 3s and 17 points in a 68-39 win in Kishwaukee River Conference play.

“Coach told me he knows I’m a shooter, keep going, they’re going to fall,” said Stern, who was 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range in the third.

“It was a rough first half, but I can’t lose confidence when I miss a couple. It felt good to kind of blow it open there and get back in the groove.”

Johnsburg ended the game with 13 3s, only one in the first quarter.

The Skyhawks (11-11, 5-2 KRC) led 14-6 after the first quarter and saw their 3s start to fall in the second, getting two from sophomore Trey Toussaint (eight points) and one from junior Jayce Schmitt (17 points, three 3s, eight rebounds).

Stern’s outburst to start the second half pushed the Skyhawks' lead from 33-20 at half to 48-22 with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter. Josh Kaunas added 10 points and three blocks in the win.

“We were doing what we were supposed to do, we were closing out, we got hands up,” Rockets coach Rich Petska said. “Kudos to them, they’re making the shots. Probably one of the best shooting teams in the area.

“When they’re on, they’re on.”

Johnsburg senior guard JT Schmitt (six points) was happy to find Stern open on multiple occasions.

“First play [of the second half], I got downhill, I found him wide open,” Schmitt said. “If he’s wide open, I’ve got to pass it to him. Every time I was going down the court, I was like, ‘Where’s Ashton?' Because if he’s wide open, he’s going to hit it. That’s what he does. He brings a lot of energy with those big 3s.”

Coach Toussaint said Stern, who also plays baseball, put in a lot of extra work in the offseason.

“I’ve been coaching 31 years, and he’s got one of the prettiest shots,” Toussaint said. “Every time it goes up, it looks good. ... He pulls up on a fast break, I have no problem with it.”

Richmond-Burton (14-7, 4-4) was led by sophomore point guard Gavin Radmer with 17 points and three 3s. Junior Luke Robinson and sophomore Jace Nelson both had nine points.

Petska felt his team came out with the right mindset.

“They were ready to go, and they were doing what they were supposed to do,” Petska said. “We’re still a good basketball team. We’ve beat some good teams, and they know that. The other night we came out flat against Marengo, and then we picked ourselves off the mat, played really well and beat Plano the other day, which beat [Johnsburg].”

“So now we’ve got to pick ourselves off the mat and do it again tomorrow.”

Johnsburg has two days off before playing at Sandwich on Friday in another key KRC matchup. The Skyhawks won the first meeting and both teams have two losses in conference play.

“They’ve got two twins, they’re huge and they’re really good,” JT Schmitt said of facing Sandwich again. “They’re really physical. It’s going to be a tough battle.”