WW South makes free throws, holds off Neuqua Valley

How many times do you hear a basketball coach talk about the importance of making free throws?

Wheaton Warrenville South listens.

The Tigers made 14 consecutive free throws in the final 1:39 Friday to defeat Neuqua Valley 66-54 in the DuPage Valley Conference on Friday in Wheaton.

The parade to the free-throw line came on the heels of a 24-12 run by Neuqua Valley that cut what had been a 40-26 deficit with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter to 52-50 after Joe Sieger buried a 3-pointer with 2:05 remaining in the game.

“Ballplayers make plays and they made the plays tonight,” Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said. “Fourteen straight free throws. You have to take your hat off to them. That doesn't happen often in high school. That's fantastic shooting.”

Jeran Simpson, who led WW South (6-2, 2-2) with a personal-best 27 points, said it was the product of lots of hard work in practice.

“We work on free throws every day probably for 20 minutes straight,” he said. “One of us and a partner go shoot two free throws, rotate, shoot two free throws, rotate, and keep going like that. The repetition helps. That showed tonight.”

Simpson was the difference-maker early, scoring 13 of WW South's first 19 points as the hosts grabbed a 19-11 lead after one quarter.

“Neuqua Valley's a good team,” Simpson said. “They're big. That's the biggest team we've seen all year. It was important to get on top of them early and let them know that we can play with them. My teammates did a great job getting open shots for me.”

Sieger, who led Neuqua Valley (3-5, 2-2) with 21 points, scored 8 straight to cap the Wildcats' 24-12 run. But by the time Neuqua Valley scored again on Andrew Clark's short runner in the lane with 38 seconds remaining, WW South had extended its lead to 58-50.

“The kids bought into what we're doing defensively,” WW South coach Mike Healy said. “They play hard. They're a fun group. They work hard every day. They relish doing the little stuff.

“Tonight, we knocked down some shots. We did some good things offensively. But the key to it was that our kids really scrapped. They dove for loose balls, we got some offensive rebounds. Those little things are big for us because of our lack of size.”

Matt Dacy-Sejio added 14 points for WW South, including 6-of-6 free-throw shooting in the final 1:39. Eric Rasch added 10 points and 6 rebounds.