Boys basketball: Woodstock North’s Braden Luschei unleashes key 3s against Richmond-Burton

RICHMOND – Woodstock North guard Braden Luschei heeded the urges from his coaches and teammates at a time when the Thunder needed it most.

North’s leading scorer Rex White had just picked up his third foul and the Thunder trailed Richmond-Burton by two in the second quarter when Luschei turned the game around in a span of 1:15.

The 5-foot-8 senior hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions, giving North a lead it maintained the rest of the way for a 39-31 victory Friday night in a Kishwaukee River Conference game at Lou Ramirez Gymnasium.

“I want to thank my teammates on that,” said Luschei, who finished with a game-high 12 points. “(Richmond-Burton) was leaving me wide open and I was just letting it fly. Coach has been wanting me to shoot and I’ve been trying to look for the right moment.”

Luschei definitely found it.

R-B’s Joe Miller hit a short jumper for a 13-11 lead just before the IHSA-mandated facemask timeout. Luschei found a spot left of the key against the Rockets’ 1-2-2 ball-press zone and hit his first 3. The next trip, he hit one on the right, then he hit another one from the left.

It was just what the Thunder (9-10, 3-0) needed. North held a lead that was at least five points the rest of the way in a game where both teams struggled with turnovers (16 each) and missed shots.

North shot 28.3% from the field (13 of 46); R-B (8-13, 2-2) hit 22.7% (10 of 44).

“We needed some points,” Thunder coach Dale Jandron said. “Rexy wasn’t scoring tonight, we were missing a lot of bunnies. They play good D, we played great D, and (Luschei) hit some deep 3s on a nice run for us. Man, we needed it too. That made the separation for us the rest of the game.”

Justin Van Acker added 10 points for the Thunder, hitting a 3 in the third quarter. Jay Zinnen hit a key 3 to start the fourth quarter.

Connor Wallace led the Rockets with nine points, Jason Miller scored eight and Jake Nelson added seven with 14 rebounds.

“That’s kind of who we are,” R-B coach Brandon Creason said. “We’re scrappy, we’re undersized, there’s not really one guy you have to worry about, but we play really hard and when we play as hard as that we give ourselves a chance to win.”

The Rockets’ Maddox Meyer came off the bench to shoot two free throws for Miller, whose leg injury forced him out for a few moments. Meyer made one free throw to cut the lead to 33-28 with 1:20 remaining.

R-B got a steal on the next possession, but turned the ball back over trying to get a transition basket.

The Thunder hit 6-of-8 free throws in the final 1:04 to seal the outcome.

“We really came together as a team,” White said. “We were close-knit and stuck together and just kept shooting free throws and playing defense.”

Jandron said the Thunder’s main goal all season has been to win the first conference title in school history.

“It would mean everything,” White said. “From the start of the season, that is the only thing, as a whole, that we’ve really been looking forward to. We’re going to show people we’re ready to win it this year.”

Woodstock North 39, Richmond-Burton 31

WOODSTOCK NORTH (39)

White 2 0-0 4, Filetti 0 2-3 2, Luschei 3 3-4 12, McConnell 3 1-2 7, Van Acker 4 1-1 10, Ortiz 0 0-0 0, Rodriguez 0 1-2 1, Zinnen 1 0-0 3, Amoo 0 0-2 0, Czischki 0 0-0 0, Salas 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 8-14 39.

RICHMOND-BURTON (31)

Cooley 0 0-0 0, Wallace 3 3-5 9, Ja. Miller 2 2-2 8, Nelson 3 1-4 7, Joe Miller 2 0-0 04, Demers 0 2-2 2, Verdoni 0 0-0 0, Folbrick 0 0-0 0, Meyer 0 1-2 1, O’Leary 0 0-0 0, Bresnahan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 9-15 31.

Woodstock North 8 14 6 11 – 39

Richmond-Burton 7 8 6 10 - 31

3-point goals: Woodstock North 5 (Luschei 3, Van Acker, Zinnen), Richmond-Burton 2 (Ja. Miller 2). Total fouls: Woodstock North 17, Richmond-Burton 21. Fouled out: FIletti.