Boys Basketball: Glenbrook North tops Maine West, keeps CSL North title streak alive
BY GARY LARSEN Contributor February 10, 2012 10:48PM
Northbrook Friday 2/10/12 Glenbrook North's#10 Kurt Karis takes the ball to the hoop over Maine West's#20 Dylan Carson. | Jerry Daliege~for Sun-Times Media
standings
CSL South
Waukegan 8-1 14-8
New Trier 7-2 18-5
Evanston 5-4 16-9
Maine South 4-5 16-11
Niles West 2-7 5-17
Glenbrook S. 1-8 5-18
CSL North
Glenbrook N. 7-2 17-6
Niles North 6-3 17-7
Maine West 5-4 12-12
Highland Park 5-4 14-10
Deerfield 4-5 9-13
Maine East 0-9 4-17
(Through Sunday)
Article Extras
Updated: March 17, 2012 8:07AM
A point guard with a combination of superior quickness and three-point range is a defender’s nightmare: Back off of him and he’ll hit a three-pointer, get too close and he’ll drive around you.
Glenbrook North junior guard Kurt Karis is one of those point guards.
“Kurt has been good all year and he’s getting even better now,” Spartans coach David Weber said. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence and he has proven himself to be a very good junior point guard in this area. He doesn’t get a lot of recognition yet but I think it’s going to come.”
Karis scored 21 points in the Spartans’ 61-42 win over visiting Maine West in a Central Suburban North showdown on Friday, creating his own shot off the dribble and letting fly from long range for three treys on the night.
“My shot has been dropping but it hasn’t been consistent, so I’m trying to take it to the rim more. That will open up my shot more at the three-point line,” said Karis, who also went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
Friday’s win gave Glenbrook North (17-5, 7-2) at least a share of the Central Suburban North title, marking the 11th consecutive season the Spartans have either shared the crown or won it outright.
Adam Chick added eight points for the Spartans, while Andrew McAuliffe, Mark Johnson, and Jason Markus netted six apiece.
With Warriors leading scorer Conor Hart and his 20-plus point average absent due to injury, Maine West (12-12, 5-4) senior Kevin Garcia did what he could to help pick up the slack, burying a pair of three-pointers and scoring eight of his team-high 11 points in the game’s second quarter.
That’s when Spartans senior Trevor Ponticelli pulled up his socks and got down to business, keying a second-half defensive effort that held Garcia to three points.
“Trevor doesn’t do that much offensively, but defensively he’s always stopped the best player on the other team,” Weber said. “We always hope it’s a guard. He’s a great defender and he did a nice job on (Garcia).”
Center McAuliffe’s recent return to the floor after injury makes North infinitely more dangerous, especially where Karis and his backcourt mates are concerned.
“Especially defensively, you know if you gamble you have a 6-foot-8 kid there to help,” Karis said. “It’s nice to have him out there. We’ve handled adversity well this year. We played hard when it really mattered and it shows in our record.”
Weber wondered at times this year whether his boys would be able to keep the program’s CSL title-streak alive.
“This one was probably the toughest just because of all the injuries,” Weber said. “We had the talent but it got tough. We had to adjust and the kids made great adjustments this year.”
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