Naperville North star Luke Williams had much to celebrate on Wednesday.
The senior guard turned 18 years old on the same day he capped his high school athletic career with a virtuoso performance that will long be remembered by those who witnessed it.
Williams, a Purdue football recruit, had been playing with pain in his left shoulder ever since dislocating it during the 2022-23 basketball season. When the pain got too bad, he went for an MRI last month, which revealed a torn labrum.
“When I started the season, I didn’t know I had my injury,” Williams said. “I was just playing kind of willy-nilly.
“I got my MRI, so that’s when I found out. I wanted to play a few more games before I got my surgery because I love the guys and I love the team so much.”
Williams was scheduled for surgery on Thursday in the hope he can be fully healed for the football season at Purdue. So there was much anticipation going into his final game.
Williams didn’t disappoint. He scored a career-high 31 points to go with eight rebounds, six steals and four assists as the host Huskies beat St. Charles North 68-48.
Williams, whose previous career high was 30 against Marist last season, didn’t expect to go out with such a bang.
“Not at all,” he said. “It was me being pumped up and my teammates getting me open and giving me the ball and playing good defense as a team.”
Williams wasted no time getting the Huskies (11-10) rolling. He made a steal five seconds into the game and fed sophomore guard Max Steele for a 3-pointer.
It was the start of an opening 14-0 run. Williams later scored four straight points to boost Naperville North’s lead to 21-2. St. Charles North (7-12) committed 12 turnovers in the first quarter, nine of which were steals by the likes of Williams, Steele, senior guard Bryce Welch and senior forwards Grant Montanari and Jack Kallstrand.
“We all knew it was his last game,” Steele said. “With what he’s brought to our program, we knew we had to give it back, so we came out and started with a lot of steals and good defense.
“It slowed down throughout the game, but we kept that lead.”
Indeed, senior center Jake Furtney did his best to keep the North Stars in the game, scoring 11 of his team-high 19 points in the first half. His free throw cut the gap to 29-19 midway through the second quarter.
But Welch, who had nine points and five assists, answered with two free throws. Williams then stole the ball and fired a baseball pass the length of the floor to Welch, who sank a baseline jumper.
Williams, who made 13 of 19 shots, later made two 3-pointers, the second of which capped a 15-2 run to extend the Huskies’ lead to 44-21. He made his first five shots of the second half, many on power dribble-drives from more than 30 feet out.
The performance by Williams overshadowed an outstanding effort by Steele, who scored a career-high 21 points, all on 3-pointers. But he wasn’t complaining.
“He wasn’t ball-hogging or anything,” Steele said. “That’s just how Luke is. He can score easily, and he’s just a great player.”
Naperville North coach Gene Nolan took Williams out of the game with 2:33 left in the fourth quarter. Williams left to a standing ovation from fans and players of both teams.
“It felt amazing,” Williams said, “just seeing how much the school likes me and seeing how much they appreciate me to send me off with a farewell to me after playing basketball for so long.”
The Huskies will be challenged for the rest of the season with Williams on the bench instead of the floor, but Nolan said Williams made the right decision to end his career now.
“Luke’s health and his future are the most important thing, so this is a great decision for him to have the surgery right now,” Nolan said. “We’re going to miss him.
“He played a great game in his last sporting event at Naperville North, and he did it at the place that he loves and with the people that he loves doing it with and in front of his classmates that were here. It was neat to see him experience that.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
