Naperville Central sinks Naperville North
Drew Crawford's entire weekend was at stake.
With one shot, though, it became unforgettable.
Crawford's turnaround jumper in the lane fell through the basket as time expired to give host Naperville Central a 43-42 DuPage Valley Conference boys basketball win over Naperville North on Friday.
The 6-foot-4 junior, who got the ball on an inbounds pass with 7.6 seconds left, nearly didn't get the shot off. Crawford lost control of the ball with his back to the basket but managed to pick it up before a Naperville North player could jump on it or knock it away.
In one motion as the clock ticked down, Crawford turned and shot over a defender for the game-winner.
What a way to break a four-game losing streak.
"It feels good to pull that one out, even though I don't think we played all that well," said Crawford, who tallied 6 of his 9 points in the fourth quarter. "Every time I have a bad game and we lose, it's hard to live it down. I probably would have been sleeping all weekend if we would have lost this one."
Tom Walsh's basket with 2:10 left gave Naperville North (3-6, 0-3) its biggest lead of 40-34, but things went downhill fast for the Huskies.
Matt Neufeld scored inside for Naperville Central (5-4, 1-2) to narrow the gap to 40-36. After a traveling violation on the Huskies, Harrison Daniels nailed his fourth 3-pointer to make it 40-39.
Daniels then rebounded a missed layup by the Huskies, leading to Crawford's floater in the lane that put the Redhawks ahead 41-40 -- their first lead since early in the second quarter.
Two Jake Hasse free throws helped the Huskies reclaim the lead at 42-41 with 11.5 seconds left. Three timeouts followed, including one by each team to set up the last play along the sideline.
"I thought we controlled the game for the most part," said Huskies coach Mark Lindo. "We played so doggone hard for 31 minutes and 58 seconds. We just didn't finish that play."
Daniels, who matched Neufeld's 12 points for team-high honors, hit a 3-pointer to give Naperville Central its biggest lead of 9-2.
A twisted ankle suffered by Crawford kept him out of the game for about five minutes until he returned early in the third quarter with the Redhawks trailing 24-20.
Walsh led the Huskies with 12 points while Joe McNicholas added 9 points and 8 rebounds. Dan Hess, back from a knee injury and after only two practices, tallied 7 points.
"It's a great win," said Redhawks coach Pete Kramer, "and we needed it."