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After Plainfield North’s lopsided 60-32 victory Friday over Minooka, coach Nick DiForti compared his team’s play to Bulls power forward Carlos Boozer — to a certain extent.

“It’s funny because people bash Carlos Boozer for his defense, but the guy is the best communicator on the floor,” DiForti said. “It was our communication and closing out and getting our hands on (Minooka’s) shooters like (Jake) Hogen and (Darrin) Myers. So hats off to our guys on defense.”

Hogen and Myers are both averaging double figures in scoring for the Indians, with Myers at 11.9 and Hogen at 10.6. Because of Plainfield North’s defense, Hogen walked away from that game with a mere four points, while Myers was able to stay close to his average with 12 points.

Playing the best pays off

Plainfield North may be under .500, but having played the likes of Bolingbrook (twice), Joliet West, Benet, T.F. North and Curie has toughed the Tigers. That showed when Plainfield North stunned visiting Minooka. At one point, the Tigers led by as many as 30 points.

“(Playing the top teams is) going to eventually pay off,” DiForti said. “In those games we’ve played really well and I hope it’s because of the competition we’ve played.

“We restarted our conference play,” DiForti said. “We would rather play better basketball in late January and March.”

Sheepishly humble

Plainfield North senior guard Marcus Fair scored 21 points against Minooka, but it wasn’t a career- or season-high total for him. He’s already had five 20 points-plus games.

“It’s not quite the norm for me,” Fair said. “But it was one of my better games.”

Coal bits

Coach Brad Boresi has Coal City running on the right track. When the Coalers notched their 12th victory, they exceeded the program’s win total for the past two seasons. Coal City won just 10 games the past two seasons combined.

The Coalers are 7-1 this month. That win total matches the seven victories Coal City earned in the 2011-12 season.