Trevor Stumpe plays through foul trouble, leads Plainfield North into second round

PONTIAC, IL — Plainfield North coach Bob Krahulik had some serious worries in the third quarter of Monday’s first round game against Bloomington at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament.

His Tigers had not one a single game the played during the day last season (and this game had started at 10:30 a.m.). They were trailing the Purple Raiders nine points and his start player, Trevor Stumpe, opened the half by picking up his fourth foul.

Mark Winston and Kevin Krieger helped pick up the slack and keep the Tigers close and then Stumpe played enough minutes to grab a hard-fought 69-66 victory.

Bloomington had a chance to tie but Illjah Donnelly’s three-point attempt at the buzzer didn’t fall.

Stumpe only played about half the game, but did manage to play the entire fourth quarter with four fouls. He finished with 24 points and eight rebounds.

“He’s a crafty player,” said Krahulik. “He’s very fundamentally sound, definitely one of the best players in the area.

Stumpe shot 7 for 13 from the field and 9 for 11 from the line. He’s equally adept at shooting from long range or driving into the lane for a floater.

“My dad used to force me to go left when I was growing up,” said Stumpe. “So I’m really comfortable going both ways, it doesn’t bother me.”

Krieger scored 19 and Winston, Cody Conway and Jake Nowak each had eight points for the Tigers (8-1).

Deion Thompson, who fouled out in the fourth quarter, led Bloomington with 18 points. Sophomore Charles Payton scored 14 and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Purple Raiders.

Plainfield North will face St. Charles North in the second round on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

“For some reason my boys don’t like to play during the day,” said Krahulik. “We better fix that by tomorrow.”

“We had a bunch of donuts this morning,” Stumpe said. “Maybe that’s why we started slow.”