Plainfield East Wins St. Charles East Tournament

turned to its defense and delivered in a 37-35 win over Schaumburg in the championship game of the St. Charles East Thanksgiving Tournament Saturday evening in St. Charles.

The Bengals did not allow 10 or more points in any quarter as Dee Brown earned the tournament's Most Valuable Player award.

The victory puts Plainfield East at 4-0 on the season and gives them their second Thanksgiving tournament championship in three years. They won the Lincoln-Way North Thanksgiving tournament in 2009.

Brian Bennett's 13 points and eight rebounds led the way in the final. Brown chipped in seven.

Plainfield East advanced to the championship game by going 3-0 during pool play, beating St. Charles North (79-65), Downers Grove South (66-57) and Thornton Fractional North (66-60).

In the win over T.F. North, three Bengals reached double figures in Dee Brown (19), Mack Brown (17) and Bennett (13). Austin Robinson’s 23 points led the way in the victory over Downers Grove South.

Dee Brown poured in 23 points and had four assists against St. Charles North in the season opener.

Bennett chipped in 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds and Robinson totaled 13 points. Mack Brown dished out a team-best five assists.

Joliet West Thanksgiving Tournament

went 1-3 and failed to win a game in four tries at the Joliet West Thanksgiving Tournament.

Joe Medgyesi’s basket at the buzzer lifted Aurora Central Catholic (2-2) to a 63-61 win over Plainfield South (1-3) in the fifth-place game Saturday at Joliet West.

Kevin Coker’s basket with a minute to play in regulation gave the Cougars their last lead at 61-59. Coker finished with 16 points.

Edvinas Presniakovas led the Cougars with 23 points, including five three-pointers. Will Nixon added 18 points.

Presniakovas earned a spot on the all-tournament team and tied a tournament record with six three-pointers in a 78-55 win over Tinley Park.

It was Plainfield South’s lone win at the tournament. The fourth-year varsity senior had 22 points in the contest.

A year ago, Plainfield North beat Plainfield South in the championship game.

This year, the Tigers allowed an average of 80 points per game at the tournament.

“We are mentally weak. There is no doubt,” Plainfield North coach Nick DiForti said. “If you came to our practice any day of the week, you would see a different team. The conversion of practice to game situation is obsolete.”

Tinley Park (1-3) posted an 82-69 win over Plainfield North in the seventh-place game Saturday.

Marcus Fair’s 20 points topped the Tigers. Freshman Trevor Stumpe chipped in 12 points and led the Tigers in scoring at the tournament.

“Together as a group, everybody’s not doing their job and as coaches, that’s our fault,” DiForti said. “And, I’m not going to use the inexperience excuse. The mistakes we’re making are not because of a lack of experience. They know what’s going on and they know we are struggling right now.”

Plainfield North’s roster features two freshmen and four juniors making the jump to the varsity.

“If it’s going to take a while for this team to jell, so be it,” DiForti said. “We play Oswego East Friday and Bloom at Crete-Monee Saturday. It doesn’t get any easier. On a positive note, we want to play the tougher teams. That’s why we come here, go to Pontiac and have good teams at our own tournament. We want to learn.”

WJOL-AM 1340/Provena St. Joseph Invite

went 1-2 at the WJOL-AM 1340/Provena St. Joseph tournament last week at the University of St. Francis in Joliet.

Plainfield Central beat Joliet Catholic Academy 48-36 and dropped a 46-34 decision to Lockport and a 50-34 tally to Joliet Central.