Boys Basketball: Tyler Westberg, DeKalb ride red-hot shooting past St. Charles North for first regional title since 2010

HAMPSHIRE – Tyler Westberg turned to the crowd and held his pointer finger to his mouth, as if to shush it.

Westberg, DeKalb’s senior guard, had just made his fifth consecutive 3-pointer of the third quarter. It was a snapshot of the blistering 3-point shooting the Barbs showcased Friday on their way to a 74-57 win over St. Charles North in the Class 4A Hampshire Regional final.

[ Photos: St. Charles North vs. DeKalb, Class 4A Hampshire Regional final ]

The Barbs, in winning their first regional title since 2010, shot a blistering 18 of 26 from beyond the arc to spoil St. Charles North’s bid for a third consecutive regional title.

“We’ve been shooting [the 3] well all year,” Westberg said following his 29-point effort, which included 9-for-12 shooting from beyond the arc. “Darrell [Island] had [some] big few shots in the first quarter. I saw him in the gym before the game, shooting. Me and a freshman were on the gun getting ready for the game.”

DeKalb (24-9) will face Rockford Auburn in the sectional semifinal hosted at Huntley at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“It feels amazing; it’s all I ever wanted to do since I was little,” Westberg said as the celebration cascaded around him.

Lane McVicar, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, had a bit of a personal edge to Friday’s matchup. As a sophomore and playing for South Elgin at the time, the North Stars bested McVicar and the Storm for the regional title.

“To play [North] my senior year and beat them, it feels great,” McVicar said. “That was something that was on my shoulder the whole time.”

Island finished with 18 points and five rebounds, while Sean Reynolds had 13 points and five rebounds.

DeKalb coach Mike Reynolds was waiting for the offensive barrage to all click at the right moment.

“We were waiting for it. We’ve had some [games] where two of our shooters have clicked; we had that against Waubonsie [Valley] a couple times,” Reynolds said. “But we’ve never had three or four. Tonight, we had three or four. It becomes hard to guard and we thought that was kind of the offensive team we were at points this year, but it was nice to put it together for four quarters.”

The North Stars cut the deficit to 10 at one point, but a Westberg 3 – his sixth of the game at 3:42 in the third quarter at that point – took the starch out of St. Charles North’s comeback.

“He can shoot it,” Reynolds said. “And Sean can shoot it and we usually camp them on the corners; have a lot of driving and moving and we ran some sets. [St. Charles North] is really, really big and athletic and long, so I thought we’d have to shoot more 3s. I didn’t think we’d make 100 of them.”

The Barbs did, however, see an advantage on film.

“They stay in,” Reynolds said. “I knew they could take away our driving angles because of their length and they got really good players and really good coaching.”

The North Stars (16-15) still appeared a little stunned exiting the locker room.

Was the 3-point barrage expected based on film and preparation?

“No,” North Stars seniors Ethan Marlowe and Ned Hayes agreed.

“We were just trying to keep them out of the lane, keep them from getting down,” said Marlowe, who finished with 12 points and six rebounds.

“It’s frustrating, especially when you play good defense [inside] and he’s knocking them in like he is. He’s got a hand in his face and it’s frustrating to see them go in,” said Hayes, who finished with seven points and five rebounds.

North Stars coach Tom Poulin thought “quite a few” of those attempts were contested.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Poulin said. “I’ve been in this sport since I was in third grade. I’ve never seen a team shoot like that. I’d be disappointed if it was like: ‘Man, we were nowhere around them’. The only thing was, once we decided to start trying run them off the line, we didn’t get to that point. They still were able to get them off, so that’s just a credit to their execution.”

Max Love, who had 28 points in the regional semifinal against South Elgin, was limited to 11 points. Jude Love had two points and five rebounds.

“First of all, this senior class is special as I’ve had as far as people go,” Poulin said. “It just seems like yesterday they were freshmen, we’re in the gym in the fall working and I was getting to know them. Now I feel like I got just a bunch of great young men. They’ve grown up into great young men; outstanding people and that’s the most important thing.”