Neuqua Valley’s Joe Balgro had a premonition about teammate Luke Kinkade before the playoff opener against Downers Grove South on Wednesday.
Balgro didn’t keep that to himself.
“We told him tonight’s his night,” Balgro said.
Indeed it was. Kinkade scored nine of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter as the sixth-seeded Wildcats broke open a tight game to beat the 10th-seeded Mustangs 50-37 in the Class 4A Downers Grove North Regional semifinals.
“He proved it,” Balgro said. “Fourth quarter, he honestly carried us.”
Neuqua Valley (23-8) advances to play second-seeded Downers Grove North (28-4) in the regional final at 7 p.m. Friday.
Kinkade, a senior guard who also had a team-high eight rebounds, and Balgro combined to score all of the points in the first quarter for the Wildcats, who took an 11-6 lead. Balgro, a senior forward, finished with 16 points, six rebounds and three steals.
Both Kinkade and Balgro suffered through mini shooting slumps in the middle two quarters. Kinkade missed five straight shots at one point, while Balgro missed four in a row.
That, along with a slew of turnovers and trouble on the boards, allowed the Mustangs (23-8) to take the initiative in the third quarter, when they outscored Neuqua Valley 15-7.
Senior center Justin Sveiteris, who had 16 points and eight rebounds, scored inside to give Downers Grove South a 31-30 lead early in the fourth quarter.
That didn’t faze Kinkade, who knew he had to keep shooting.
“I wanted the ball more,” he said. “I’ve learned not to lose confidence even when I miss a few shots, so I just wanted the ball more.”
He got it, and so did Balgro, who made three of his final four shots. Kinkade took a pass from senior guard Colin Gerrity and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer from the left wing with 7:01 to play.
That was the start of a 15-1 run. Balgro scored seven of those points, and Kinkade converted a putback of Balgro’s only miss of the fourth quarter.
“When you make one, when you see one go in, it clears the mind a little bit, and you just keep shooting,” Kinkade said.
Kinkade’s putback made it 41-32 and prompted Downers Grove South to take a timeout with 4:42 left.
Balgro followed with a steal and a reverse layup, and junior guard Whitman Charboneau hit a floater from the left baseline to stretch the lead to 45-32 at the 2:59 mark.
“Whit hit that baseline floater that was huge for us,” Kinkade said. “That was the play that really set us apart.”
Defense, especially rebounding, then kept Neuqua Valley apart from the Mustangs, who dominated the offensive glass 16-2 but lost the defensive rebounding battle 25-11. Downers Grove South missed 11 of its last 12 shots.
“We played with a mindset of trying to win, rather than trying to not lose,” Balgro said. “So that helped us a lot. It was just us knowing that we had to play good defense. We prioritize rebounding and defense, and we know that doing good in those categories obviously leads to good offense.”
But Kinkade realizes the Wildcats, who made 15 turnovers, will need to play much better to upset heavily favored Downers Grove North, which reached the state semifinals last season.
“We’re playing a great team Friday, so we’ve got to hold the ball more,” Kinkade said. “That will bite us in the butt if we don’t do that.”
Kinkade made several of those turnovers and is driven to improve.
“There’s still so much more I can do better, like rebounding,” he said. “I can play better defense. I can make more shots. I’m just trying to continue on that upward spiral.”
Does Balgro have any premonitions about Kinkade’s play on Friday?
“Same thing,” Balgro said. “We’re all going to go out there and play our best, and we’ll see what happens.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
