Naperville North’s Bryce Welch can be a model of efficiency. Against Metea Valley, he couldn’t miss.

Naperville North’s Bryce Welch is getting more adept at letting the game come to him.

That’s allowing the junior guard to take it to opponents, as he did Friday night against Metea Valley.

“I feel a lot more comfortable in the offense,” Welch said. “We’ve been doing it for a while. We know what works, so we’re just sticking with that, trying to find the best shot possible no matter who gets it.”

On Friday, that person was Welch, who scored 12 of his game-high 17 points in the first quarter of the Huskies’ shockingly easy 57-39 DuPage Valley Conference victory in Naperville.

Metea Valley edged Naperville North 50-47 in the first meeting on Jan. 6. The Mustangs (20-9, 4-5) got off to a good start this time when junior guard Nick Schroeder hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring.

But Welch answered with a 3-pointer of his own and later hit another to give the Huskies (18-11, 6-3) a 12-3 lead. He scored 12 of their first 14 points.

“Bryce has done a great job of waiting on things,” Naperville North coach Gene Nolan said. “He’s so good at attacking north-south, and if he can get a guy on his hip to cause a defensive rotation, he’s been great at understanding when that rotation happens and then keeping that advantage. He can pass out of it too.”

Indeed, Welch also led all players with four assists, one more than junior guard Cole Arl and Metea Valley senior guard Jahki Gray, and two blocked shots.

“I feel like lately he’s just been coming into his own, and he’s been playing really well,” Arl said of Welch. “He was making a lot of shots early today. He gave us a lot of momentum.”

Welch literally could not miss from the floor, making all six shots he took. He was 3 for 4 from the free-throw line.

“I thought Bryce offensively was very, very efficient tonight against a really good defensive team,” Nolan said. “It was a good team win.”

Welch echoed that theme, and the statistics back him up. His early dominance opened up opportunities for Arl and junior guard Luke Williams, whose coast-to-coast rush and layup with 5:39 left in the third quarter capped a 13-0 run and gave the Huskies their largest lead, 37-13.

Williams finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, and Arl added 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting, three assists and three steals. The Huskies shot 22 of 34 (64.7%) and committed just six turnovers.

“On offense, we’re just trying to find the best shot,” Welch said. “If it comes to me, I’ll take it.

“It’s like that for everyone. We have confidence in everyone. But I was just fortunate tonight that I was able to put our team in position to win.”

The offensive efficiency was triggered by Naperville North’s impressive defensive effort. The Huskies held Gray, who didn’t score until midway through the third quarter, to eight points. Gray missed his first seven shots, three of which were 3-point attempts that were blocked. Welch, Williams and senior forward Jacob Nolen had the rejections.

“We were just communicating on defense, trying to make sure we know where their best players are,” Welch said. “Credit to him. He’s a really talented scorer. He can get to the rim, he can shoot, so we just tried to keep tabs on him and know where he is at on the floor so we can give ourselves the best shot on defense.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.