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Sports

LaCosse Serves Notice for Naperville North

Huskies senior posts 14 points and 10 rebounds in a 59-52 DVC win over Wheaton North on Friday.

Naperville North senior Matt LaCosse has had to ease his way into the basketball season after injuring his knee in the Huskies’ Class 8A football quarterfinal loss to Homewood-Flossmoor in November.

He made his season debut last week against Naperville Central, but if his performance in the Huskies’ 59-52 DuPage Valley Conference win over Wheaton North on Friday night is any indication, he’s on his way to being all the way back.

LaCosse led the host Huskies with 14 points and 10 rebounds in the win, despite having to take frequent breaks because of his conditioning not being up to speed yet.

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“He’s getting closer,” Naperville North coach Jeff Powers said. “You could see his competitive fires. I bet you he’s 70 percent. I know he’s not 100 percent in basketball shape yet. He did a great job. It’s really nice to have him back.”

Wheaton North (8-7 overall, 2-4 DVC) took a 14-13 lead at the start of the second quarter before Naperville North (8-7, 4-2) started to get moving. A 17-2 run that featured five different Huskies scoring gave the Huskies a 30-16 lead.

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The Huskies continued to lead through the third quarter, taking a 46-35 advantage into the fourth. But Wheaton North is a good shooting team, so the Huskies didn’t feel completely comfortable with that 11-point lead.

“They’re one of the best shooting teams in the DVC,” LaCosse said. “We were expecting them to make a run. I was just wondering how big of a run it would be.”

The run turned out to be lengthy, with the Falcons putting together a 12-3 run that cut the Huskies’ lead to 52-50 with 2:25 left in the fourth on a Jeff Schalk driving lay-up.

But Jovonn Griffin, who was quiet offensively most of the night, helped stem the tide. Griffin’s driving lay-up followed by five of six free throws gave him a personal 7-0 run that put the game away for good.

“We kept fouling them and they’re really good shooters, so that was dumb on our part,” LaCosse said. “But I liked the way we responded. Jovonn hit some clutch free throws at the end.”

Powers was happy with the way his team responded after seeing its four-game winning streak snapped by state power Glenbard East last Saturday.

“I’m happy with the way we responded after watching the tape,” Powers said. “We said that we had to really hunker down defensively, and I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”

Prior to the game, Naperville North held its annual Hall of Fame inductions. Six former Huskies earned the honor, including current assistant football coach Bill Korosec, who went on to play football at Eastern Illinois University.

Former professional baseball player Bobby Carlson was also honored, as was IHSA all-time wrestling winning percentage leader Eric Tannenbaum, high jump state champion Bruce Reynolds, former Penn State golfer Megan Mull and former track coach Gus Scott.

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