Naperville Central towers over Glenbard North
Ben Wolf must have seemed like Gulliver to all of Glenbard North's undersized defenders Friday night.
Naperville Central's 6-foot-8 senior center had a 6-inch height advantage on the Panthers' tallest player, and the Redhawks were quick to exploit it.
Wolf defied all efforts to surround and tie him up in the paint, scoring a personal-high 24 points to lift visiting Naperville Central to a 53-28 DuPage Valley Conference victory in Carol Stream.
"Obviously, the size is something we were focused on," Wolf said. "We wanted to get it in the middle so we could take advantage of that height."
The Panthers (0-6, 0-1) don't have a true post player, and their starting lineup averages 6 feet. That was a huge problem against the Redhawks, who also start 6-6 sophomore forward Cameron Dougherty and can bring 6-7 Kevin Maloney and 6-7 Kurt Kozarits off the bench if Wolf gets in foul trouble.
Wolf had no such problems and neither did the Redhawks, who trailed only briefly in the early going before Wolf tallied seven straight points to put the visitors ahead to stay.
The game went according to plan for the Redhawks (4-1, 1-0), who led 26-13 at halftime and did not allow the Panthers to score in double figures in any quarter.
"We knew (about the height advantage) going in but they are always scrappy and it's never easy over here, so we didn't take anything for granted," Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said. "This team was a little scary because it was all guards.
"We had to concentrate on just defending. Any time you keep a team in the 20s, you've done your job."
The play of Wolf allowed his teammates to focus on defense. He was consistently dominant, sinking 10 of 11 shots to go with 4 rebounds and 2 blocks.
The big man wasn't flustered by Glenbard North's collapsing defense. He either passed it to guards Tyler O'Brien, Dillon Kane and Daniel Raab, who combined to sink five 3-pointers, or kept the ball out of reach of the Panthers and went up strong.
Wolf did that repeatedly, scoring on a putback and converting a three-point play to end the first half before starting the second half with another bucket. But the highlights came in the fourth quarter when he powered home a pair of dunks, the first despite a double-team and the second through a triple-team.
"I got to concentrate on keeping it high and if it's not there I've got to kick it out to my teammates because they'll be open if they're collapsing on me," Wolf said. "As soon as I got open on that (first) dunk I had a space between me and the basket, so I took that space and went up with it."
O'Brien finished with 13 points, while Raab added 7 points and Dougherty 4 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks for the Redhawks, who are nearly halfway to last year's victory total even though Wolf is the only returning starter.
"It feels pretty good coming back from that not-so-good record last season," Wolf said. "I think we are going to have a lot better record this season."
Kramer was feeling good after his team held the Panthers to just 9 baskets. Darryl Creamer paced Glenbard North with 10 points and 11 rebounds but shot 3 for 10.
"I thought we did a nice job on (Creamer)," Kramer said. "He's an active player and a good player and we knew if we stopped him, they would struggle."