Glenbard East 57, Naperville North 53
Nine months later, Glenbard East still sits atop the DuPage Valley Conference standings.
After Friday's 57-53 boys basketball win over Naperville North in Lombard, the revamped Rams don't appear willing to vacate that spot any time soon.
The defending DVC champs aren't seen by many to be a favorite to repeat this season, but the Rams (3-1, 1-0) are out to make believers in the league. Friday's DVC opener was the first step.
"It's important to us because everybody's doubting us," said Derak Stanback, Glenbard East's lone returning starter who scored a game-high 19 points. "We've got to keep fighting for everything we want."
With two Naperville North football players, Tom Walsh and Danny Grimley, seeing their first action and two others, Dan Hess and Bryan Bailin, sitting out, it was a rough start for the Huskies (2-3, 0-1) on Friday.
Glenbard East took advantage of 14 first-half turnovers by the Huskies to build a 23-13 late in the second quarter on Stanback's three-point play and Ben Trefilek's bucket.
Jack Merrithey knocked down a 3-pointer at the start of the second half to match the 10-point spread, but Naperville North gradually crept back.
A 9-2 run, including 5 points and a dunk by Jake Hasse, narrowed Naperville North's gap to 34-31 late in the third quarter. The margin swayed until baskets in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter by Austin Weiss, Grimley and Hasse cut the Huskies' deficit to 41-39.
After Glenbard East's 6-0 burst, however, Naperville North was back climbing the hill again.
"We worked real hard, but obviously we're not in very good sync yet," said Huskies coach Mark Lindo. "There's not much rhythm. We had two people literally playing their first minutes tonight."
Glenbard East led 51-43, but Naperville North made it interesting in the final minutes. Weiss, who scored 11 of his team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter, knocked down a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to make it 53-52.
Glenbard East hit 4 of 6 free throws in the final 25 seconds and the Huskies missed a 3-pointer that would have given them a lead with about 20 seconds left. Tom Seagraves, who scored 14 points for the Rams, got a key steal in the final 10 seconds.
"Obviously, it got closer than it should have," said Rams coach Scott Miller. "But you've got to give Naperville North credit. And I thought we had a few nice stretches that we can build on."