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player ready...Naperville North senior Mitch Lewis has too much on his mind these days.
Lewis, who’s weighing 10 football scholarship offers, hopes to add a couple Big Ten schools to that list. He’s planning three visits before the Feb. 1 signing day.
First things first, though.
Lewis, a 6-foot-6 guard, has been focused on getting the Huskies’ needle pointed north in boys basketball.
“Things haven’t gone as well as planned, but we’re working hard,” Lewis said. “I think our best basketball is yet to come.”
That seems to be the consensus around North.
The Huskies (8-4), coming off a 3-1 finish at York’s Jack Tosh Holiday Classic, haven’t necessarily played poorly. But they haven’t matched expectations, either.
“I honestly thought we would be better,” Naperville North coach Jeff Powers said. “But in retrospect, we lost by one to Wheaton South. They have one loss. We lost in overtime to Oswego East. They have three (losses). So 8-4 isn’t terrible.”
Powers felt North improved every day at York.
The Huskies led deep into the fourth quarter of a 62-57 loss to Downers Grove South before rebounding to win their last two games.
Lewis, an all-tournament selection, led the way. He averaged 15.8 points and 5.3 rebounds and shot 65.8 percent.
“Mitch played absolutely great basketball,” Powers said. “He finished a lot of shots in the paint, played good defense, got a lot of rebounds. He and Chris Johnson both had good tournaments.”
Johnson still needs work on his free-throw shooting, and that goes for North as a whole. The Huskies are shooting only 63 percent from the line.
“We’re shooting free throws poorly, especially in the fourth quarter,” Powers said. “I think it will come. We have good kids who want to be good.”
To Lewis, it boils down to the Huskies playing more and thinking less.
“We seniors have a lot of pressure to make something of this season and maybe the pressure got to some of us,” Lewis said. “We need to put that behind us.”
Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood: Chuck Robinson considers his first priority is to be Waubonsie Valley’s defensive anchor. He was that and more last week.
Robinson, a 6-4 junior, averaged 14 points and 9.8 rebounds in being named to the Jack Tosh all-tournament team. The Warriors (6-7) went 2-2.
Robinson is Waubonsie’s tallest player. For a change, he enjoyed a height advantage in a few games.
“We had to take advantage of be me being the biggest guy on the court,” Robinson said. “Guys were looking to get me the ball.”
Waubonsie is still figuring out how to finish games. The Warriors led Hinsdale South by nine at halftime and lost by three. They fell to Batavia in overtime.
“We’re losing games because we lose our focus,” Robinson said. “That starts in practice. Sometimes in practice, we start having too much fun and we lose our focus. That can’t happen.”
Split decision: Naperville Central (5-9) won games against Glenbrook South and Dundee-Crown between a first-round defeat to Prospect and 54-51 loss to Maine West at Wheeling.
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The last one hurt a little.
Central trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter and got it to one on Noah Swope’s 3-pointer, but couldn’t close.
“We’re playing better, but we’re a very inconsistent team,” Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said. “We’re 5-9 and we could be 9-5.”
Swope scored 19 points against Maine West. Nick Kramer had 15 points, 11 rebounds and six assists vs. Glenbrook South. Consistent scoring from multiple players, though, is Central’s conundrum.
It doesn’t get easier this month. The next three Fridays Central plays at Wheaton Warrenville South, hosts Naperville North (8-4) and is at Wheaton North (9-3).
“It’s brutal,” Kramer said. “We’re just taking it one day at a time, try to get better every day. You start looking ahead, you get in trouble.”
Joshua Welge is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.