Forget nerves. Steven Call answers as St. Charles East slips past Dundee-Crown for regional title. ‘He was great.’

To be perfectly honest, St. Charles East’s Steven Call didn’t wake up Friday with the feeling that he would play the best game of his career that night.

In fact, up until tipoff, it was quite the opposite for the senior guard.

“Honestly, I was kind of nervous,” Call said. “Right before the game I was like, ‘All right, let’s go out and get this.’”

It worked as Call didn’t show any nerves in the Class 4A Streamwood Regional championship game. He scored a career-high 24 points for a 59-53 win over Dundee-Crown.

It was the first regional title in seven seasons for the Saints (16-16), who advanced to play at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Rockford Sectional semifinals against either Huntley or Rockford East.

Call was the key for St. Charles East. He shot 9 of 13 from the floor, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range. He also grabbed seven rebounds. Jack Borri added 11 points.

Kuba Senczyszyn led Dundee-Crown (15-15) with 20 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots. Zach Randl scored 16 points. It wasn’t enough to overcome a red-hot Call.

“I got into a rhythm early and my game fell in from there,” he said. “I put up some shots and made them, so I just kept shooting.”

Call’s season went from a hot start to a midseason slump to peaking in the postseason.

“He was great,” St. Charles East coach Patrick Woods said. “We always say that big-time players make big-time plays when needed. He was big-time for us. He took what the game gave him.”

The Saints improved to 8-2 in their last 10 games. Woods pointed to when Call broke out of his slump as the catalyst for the Saints’ run.

“It started with him getting going,” Woods said. “He makes everyone around him better.”

With his confidence at its peak, Call isn’t forcing his shot. He’s also facilitating for his unselfish teammates. It means the Saints can finally play at the pace they were hoping to all season.

“I think we’ve all got our confidence back and that’s helping us,” Call said. “This definitely means a lot.”

Dundee-Crown, however, jumped out to a 10-6 lead. The Saints then went on a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. Call scored the final five points of that stretch.

The closest the Chargers could get was 27-24 on the first basket of the third quarter. St. Charles East held them at bay the rest of the way.

“They did a great job,” Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber said of the Saints. “(Drew Clarke, Borri and Call) are really nice players.

“When you have three really good guards that can shoot it and handle it in high school basketball, you’re going to have a hard time.”

The Chargers had their fair share of ups and downs this season, much like St. Charles East. Huber said his team never changed during the hard times, though.

“This has been one of my favorite groups to coach,” Huber said. “They just showed up. There was no drama. They took care of school. They didn’t miss class. They didn’t have grade problems.

“They showed up at practice ready to go. They accepted coaching and got better.”

Woods is happy St. Charles East held together after various injuries and illnesses disrupted the rhythm throughout the season.

Now, they Saints clicking as they head into the sectional.

“Our pace of play, teams aren’t used to playing the way we play for 32 minutes,” Woods said. “We’ve just gotten better as it’s all gone on.

“We finally have our whole team. That’s something we haven’t had the majority of the season.”

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.