By Bob Narang –
The Naperville North High School boys basketball team last week had thoughts of an appearance in the sectional finals dancing in their heads.
And why not?
The Huskies had a memorable regular season, opened the Class 4A playoffs with double-digit victories over both Hinsdale Central and Geneva to land a spot against upstart Willowbrook in the Willowbrook Sectional semifinals.
In spite of playing on the Warriors’ home court, the top-seeded Huskies led 20-12 at halftime over the fifth-seeded Warriors.
But Willowbrook’s Everett Stubblefield III took matters into his own hands in the second half and scored 12 of his 16 points in the third quarter to spark the Warriors to a 47-43 comeback victory.
With the loss, the Huskies ended their season with a record of 26-5. Three days later, Benet Academy took a 67-40 victory in the sectional championship game to end Willowbrook’s season at 26-6.
“You have to give (Willowbrook) credit, they played a very good second half,” said Naperville North head coach Jeff Powers. “It was a tough loss. This team is very close, and it was hard to end the season this way.”
For Powers, it was particularly tough because he plans to retire at the end of the school year. The Warriors won their first regional championship since 2004 and ended the Huskies’ winning streak at 11 games. Meanwhile, Naperville North’s Chris Johnson, an accomplished 6-7 senior forward who averaged approximately 14 points and eight rebounds per game, is one of the key players the Huskies will have to replace during the off-season. The Huskies won 25 games for the second consecutive season and did not lose a game at home this season. Last season the Huskies advanced two games further, to the super-sectional round.
“Chris was a really good player and played well all season,” Powers said. “He worked hard, was a really good team player and did so many things for us.”
Benet Academy, after its lopsided victory over Willowbrook, advanced to Tuesday evening’s super-sectional game in DeKalb at Northern Illinois University against Larkin, champion of the Upstate Eight Conference’s River Division.
