As a first-time starter, Deerfield sophomore guard Charlie Yellen has experienced plenty of adversity on the court this season.
But Yellen persevered, knowing his teammates were behind him.
“From the first day in the gym, they welcomed me with open arms, and I know that whatever happens, they always have my back,” he said. “I’ve really had my ups and downs. There were times when I was getting so in my head and it was hard to stay confident.”
On Monday, the Warriors needed the 6-foot-1 Yellen at the end of an up-and-down first half against Wheaton St. Francis in the Class 3A Hoffman Estates Supersectional, and he confidently came through.
Yellen’s basket with 15 seconds left ended a quarterlong drought for Deerfield, which then went on an 8-0 run at the beginning of the second half en route to a 51-36 win at NOW Arena.
“I remember after scoring thinking, ‘Yes, we got a bucket,’ because I knew it was the first of the quarter,” Yellen said. “When we got into the locker room, we knew we were fine.”
Senior guard Evan Nagler scored a team-high 20 points and also had five assists, four rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots for the Warriors (24-11), who advanced to the state semifinals for the first time and will play Kaneland (35-0) at the State Farm Center in Champaign at 10 a.m. Friday. Yellen finished with six points, four assists and a blocked shot.
After Deerfield raced ahead 18-5 in the first quarter, the Spartans (17-15) scored 12 straight points to cut the lead to one with less than a minute left in the half.
St. Francis’ trapping press had pushed Yellen and his teammates to a pace that caused them problems. But his layup turned the tide.
Yellen then capped the Warriors’ third-quarter run with his second basket to reestablish a double-digit lead, and St. Francis got no closer than nine points for the rest of the game.
“In the second quarter, he didn’t have his best moments, but at the end of the second, to get that layup to get us some momentum back was huge,” Deerfield coach Dan McKendrick said. “He’s been good throughout the year and been great of late.
“He has settled into his role and knows what he wants to get done on the court. He knows when he can attack and when he needs to defer. I’m proud of him.”
Yellen said Deerfield’s 62-31 loss to 2025 Class 3A state champion DePaul Prep on Feb. 10 was the turning point for him.
“After the DePaul game, I went right into my room, and my mom came in and asked me what was wrong,” Yellen said. “I told her, ‘I know I need to step it up,’ and I just had to go back to being me. I feel like I was trying to force things.
“The real truth to my game is my playmaking, and I knew that’s what I needed to do to be successful, and since then, I feel like I’ve been a different player.”
Yellen’s late-season surge has come at the perfect time for Deerfield, which went 5-4 in January and lost three of its first four games in February. He totaled 14 assists with only one turnover during two victories last week as the Warriors won their first sectional title since 1997.
That’s the type of player that Nagler saw long before Yellen was his teammate. Yellen and Nagler’s brother Sam, who also is a sophomore in the program, have played together for years.
“Getting to see him develop through feeder over the years, knowing he’d be my starting point guard one day, has definitely been fun,” Nagler said. “We spent the whole summer and fall in the gym together, so we learned how to play off one another. He lets me play off the ball a little bit, which is super helpful. He’s been finding me all day.”
Now Yellen is poised to play an integral part in the final chapter of a historic season.
“We’ve had plenty of battles, and during our rough times this season, we had the most heart, and we always battled back,” he said. “At the start of the year, we set a bunch of goals, and one was to make Deerfield history and go downstate for the first time ever. This game proved what we were capable of.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.
