Naperville North had the luxury of resting its starters for about half the game Friday night at Waubonsie Valley.
And with the reserves doing well off the bench, Huskies coach Jeff Powers took it a step further, playing 17 of 18 players on the roster in a 59-39 DuPage Valley win.
Senior guard Youcef Merabet scored nine points, all off the bench in the second half, as Naperville North (12-4, 6-2) won its sixth straight and improved to 7-1 in its last eight games.
Fellow reserves Tom Welch and Winston Elston combined for 13 points, with Welch scoring seven. The effort of Merabet, Welch and Elston allowed even more players on Naperville’s bench to enter in the fourth.
“It was perfect,” Powers said. “Our guys got us a good lead, we got to play everyone, and then you bring in a guy like Youcef and he gets on fire.
“We’ve got so many kids who are so skilled, it’s just fun to see them all get an opportunity and do so well. One guy we didn’t get in, and I promised him he’s the first guy off the bench next time.”
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The low number of minutes allowed North’s starters to rest up before Saturday’s matchup against Evanston in the Glenbard East shootout.
Senior Mitch Lewis scored eight points as the Huskies took a 10-0 lead. Waubonsie Valley (7-10, 2-5) answered with an 8-0 run, but a string of nine straight points gave the North a 19-8 lead early in the second quarter.
The Huskies’ strong inside play, combined with a defense that forced seven turnovers in the first half, kept Waubonsie from mounting any kind of a threat.
“I think we caught them with our defense, that was key,” Powers said. “We’ve been playing pretty good defense the last couple weeks.”
Lewis, a 6-foot-6 guard, played less than a half but led all scorers with 12 points and three blocked shots. Chris Johnson added eight points.
“We try to start off down low and get easy buckets down there and get off to a good start,” Lewis said. “Everybody came in and did something positive so it was really cool to see that.”
Naperville North led 28-17 at halftime and 49-28 after three quarters. Merabet, a 6-foot guard, and his fellow reserves played a huge role in the Huskies’ surge.
“We’ve got a really deep bench, so we’ve always got to have guys come in and attack every time,” Merabet said. “It’s a great experience, everybody’s happy, it’s a great experience for the juniors and for me, too.”
Brian Phillips and Chuck Robinson led the Warriors with seven points each.
Waubonsie coach Jason Mead appreciated the effort by Robinson, who also had three assists and three steals.
“He played hard,” Mead said. “That’s one thing we do as a group pretty well, we play hard.”
Bob Hurst is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.