Boys Basketball: Oak Park looks tough, overpowers St Charles North

Updated: December 29, 2011 11:15AM

PONTIAC, IL -- Oak Park-River Forest headed into the season ranked in the preseason Super 25, but then lost Bradley-bound guard Ka’Darryl Bell to injury and became a bit of an afterthought.

Not anymore.

The Huskies knocked off St. Charles North 69-60 in the first round of the Pontiac Holiday Tournament on Wednesday behind contributions from Alex Nesnidal (21 points) and Gabe Levin (16 points).

Nesnidal shot 7-for-10 from the field, scoring 10 point in the crucial third quarter as the Huskies built a 49-38 lead.

“I’m only averaging about eight points a game, but I came out hot,” said Nesnidal. “I caught fire and had a lot of confidence. All the credit goes to my teammates, they kept getting me the ball.”

Nesnidal also stepped up in the final two minutes of the game and made 4 of 4 free throws to help thwart a late comeback attempt by the North Stars.

“You can’t be scared at the free-throw line,” Nesnidal said. “I knew I had to knock those down if we were going to win.”

Quinten Payne led St. Charles North (5-10) with 17 points and Kyle Swanson added 15. Kyle Nelson scored 14.

Jakari Cammon added 12 points for Oak Park-River Forest (9-1) and Virgil Allen added nine.

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