Wildcats hit free throws to hold back Redhawks

Sure, Naperville Central dropped its fourth straight boys basketball game Saturday night at Neuqua Valley. But that was only part of the story.

The Wildcats blitzed the Redhawks 19-6 in the first quarter and sank six 3-pointers on their way to a 33-20 lead at the intermission. And Neuqua did eventually hold off a Redhawks second-half rally to win 63-56 and improve to 6-2 on the year with the nonconference triumph.

But along the way, Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer saw some of his players grow up, and the result was a solid second half of basketball -- the best the Redhawks (4-4) have had in weeks.

"I told the kids I'm disappointed with the loss but at the same time we accomplished some things," Kramer said. "We've been in kind of a funk, and tonight we finally came out of it. Our seniors had to start stepping up and they did tonight."

Kramer was glad to see forward Drew Crawford bust out for 17 second-half points as the Redhawks spent plenty of time and energy scrapping their way back from the 13-point halftime hole. Three other Redhawks joined Crawford in double digits including seniors Matt Jones, who had 10 points and 6 rebounds, and Matt Schmitz, who finished with 10 points and 3 steals.

After scoring just 20 points through two quarters, Naperville Central broke off 21 in the third quarter while closing the gap to 47-41.

But on this night, against a Wildcats squad that boasts a strong inside-outside attack, Naperville Central never could get any closer than to within 5 points, which it did twice in the fourth quarter. Neuqua hit enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the Redhawks and had three of its own players score in double figures led by Derek Raridon, who put down 2 of his team's seven 3s on his way to 14 points.

"Somehow we let them back into it, but we hit a lot of shots in the beginning and they were all needed," Raridon said. "We got a deep bench and everyone who plays for us can hit outside shots and take it inside."

Raridon, Anton Wilkins and Nolan Brown each connected on a pair of 3-pointers for Neuqua, while Steve Waeghe added 1. Wilkins finished with 12 points and 2 steals, while center Dan Pawelski had 13 points and 5 rebounds.

Assistant coach Bob Vozza, who is put in charge of the team one game each season by head coach Todd Sutton, guided the Wildcats on Saturday night. He considers the 3-pointers a nice bonus for an offense that relies more on its strong play in the paint.

"We have plenty of opportunities in the system we run to get those (3s), but we don't want to have to rely on them," he said. "Our bread and butter is in the post."

Crawford not only caught fire on offense in the second half but credited his team's switch away from a zone defense with helping the Redhawks battle back.

"We just had a lot more intensity and desire which was key," he said of his team's turnaround. "But our defense going to man helped us out a lot."