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Hallstrom impresses in Naperville Central win over Wheaton North

Naperville Central's Harry Hallstrom may not be a star every night he steps on the basketball court, but don't try telling that to Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann.

The Redhawks' 6-foot-7 senior was dominant in Friday's key DuPage Valley Conference contest, scoring 21 points and adding 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots as Naperville Central knocked off visiting Wheaton North 52-37. While Hallstrom does not always put up those types of numbers, Brackmann was not very surprised to see him play so well against the shorter Falcons.

"He looks great to me," Brackmann said when told that Hallstrom has had some "off nights" this season. "I've probably seen him play about five times. We did some heavy scouting on him and he's been impressive."

Naperville Central needed Hallstrom at his best on this night as Matt Meier was plagued by foul trouble and finished with just two field goals and 8 points. But Meier did have his share of assists in the game and so did several other Redhawks, who kept getting the ball in the paint where Hallstrom finished things off from there.

"I've got to give 100 percent of the credit to my teammates tonight," the senior forward said. "They were able to give me the ball in the post all night. Good passes too all night, and that helped out tremendously with me finishing. Because they were able to give it to me in spots where I could turn quickly and get a nice easy layup."

After Rowan McGowen hit a 3-pointer to close out the first quarter with Wheaton North (10-6, 4-3) on top 10-6, the Redhawks went on an 11-0 run to open the second quarter and never trailed again. Hallstrom had three baskets during the run and Nick Kramer put down a 3-pointer for Naperville Central, which improved to 11-6 on the year and will take a 5-2 DVC mark into Saturday night's big league game at Lake Park.

"We worked on it in practice. We worked on post feed and went back to basics," Redhawks coach Pete Kramer said. "The kids did a great job of feeding him the ball when he had an opportunity to score. That was key. And I thought he was patient once he got it. He stayed focused, took his time."

The Falcons, who were paced by McGowen's 11 points and a trio of 3s, couldn't keep pace with Hallstrom. Even when the Redhawks towering post player wasn't scoring, he seemed to always be making a big play.

Not only did he have the rebounds and the blocks to go with his game-high points, but Hallstrom had a couple of key assists, including a kick-out pass to Nick Kramer whose 3 at the buzzer of the third quarter made it a 37-26 game with eight minutes left to play.

"I thought a big play of the game was end of the third quarter," Kramer said. "Harry catches the ball and instead of throwing it up he kicks it to Nick. Nick makes that 3 at the buzzer. And now instead of being up 8 we're up 11 and we got momentum going into the fourth quarter."

Images: Naperville Central over Wheaton North, 52-37 in boys basketball

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