Last Friday, Dec. 19, the Naperville North boys basketball team won a decisive victory over Wheaton-Warrenville South.

The Huskies (5-4, 2-1 DuPage Valley Conference) took a strong lead against the Tigers (3-5, 0-3 DVC), putting up 15 unanswered points within the first five minutes of gameplay. Throughout the rest of the game, NNHS retained a comfortable lead over the Tigers, ending the night with a 54-40 victory. Head coach Jeff Powers was especially pleased with how his team was able to offset the Tigers’ strengths.

“I was really proud of our guys because we had a whole week to prepare for tonight,” Powers said. “These guys were fresh. After a whole day in testing, I thought they came and concentrated on what we wanted to do. We didn’t want to leave the strong side-shooter so we stepped there, came and helped from the other side.”

Wheaton-Warrenville South fought continuously to set their senior star point guard Josh Ruggles to score. In hopes to stop Wheaton-Warrenville South’s dribble-drive offense, North’s defense played heavy at mid-court, clogging the lane for the Tigers. It was a strategy that they had been working on all week in practice, according to junior guard Mitch Lewis.

Friday saw a wide spread of contributions from the Huskies. Lewis lead the scoring with 16 points and seven rebounds, but the “Player of the Game” was awarded to senior guard Zachary Tuxhorn, who shot five-for-five with field goals and received ten rebounds. Senior guard Baylor Griffin also played an intense game by scoring nine points and five assists.

Towards the end of the game, the Huskies’ defense took an aggressive stand against the Tigers’ push to the net. Griffin, Tuxhorn and Lewis all stuffed layups within the last four minutes of the game, stifling any hopes of a last-second comeback. According to Powers, this victory came as a result of playing their type of basketball.

“I was thinking that we have to continue to do what we do well,” Powers said. “And that was move the ball, be patient on offense and when we have the opportunity to sweep and go on our spots, we did a great job of that.”