Naperville Central 53, Wheaton North 52
Drew Crawford did it again.
Naperville Central's junior guard hit his third game-winner of the season on Friday, a baseline jumper as time expired to beat Wheaton North 53-52 in Naperville.
If this is a broken record, it's sweet music for the Redhawks (12-6, 5-2 DuPage Valley Conference). Crawford's last-second shots beat Naperville North and Notre Dame in December.
"I like the situation," said Crawford, who scored 18 points with 11 rebounds. "It's nerve-wracking, but I think I can handle the situation pretty well."
Wheaton North (13-4, 5-2) took a 52-51 lead with 1:10 left, as Dave Pilalis was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all 3 free throws.
Naperville Central called its final timeout with 17.1 seconds left, and Crawford missed a jumper in the lane.
The ball went out of bounds to the Redhawks with two seconds left, and on the inbounds Matt Schmitz found Crawford off a Harrison Daniels screen for a jumper from the left corner.
"I knew it was going in right when I passed it," Schmitz said.
"He loves the moment," Redhawks coach Pete Kramer said. "He's our guy and everybody in the gym knows we're going to him."
Pilalis scored 8 of his 22 points in the first quarter, as Wheaton North carved out an early 16-7 lead.
Naperville Central cut it to 26-25 at halftime, Daniels going in for a layup in the final seconds. Wheaton North led 44-39 after three quarters, but Naperville Central crawled ahead 47-46 with four minutes left on 2 free throws by Crawford.
A Pilalis 3-pointer tied it at 49-49 with 2:15 left, Mike Schmitz hit 2 free throws for the Redhawks and Pilalis hit the 3 free throws to give the Falcons their last lead.
John Bagge added 19 points and Kristian Rosenberger 8 for Wheaton North, which dropped into a second-place tie in the DVC with Naperville Central, two games behind West Aurora.
"I'm not ready to sink the ship here," Falcons coach Jim Nazos said. "I think we're a good team on the verge of being a great team."
Matt Neufeld scored 13 points, and Matt Schmitz gave the Redhawks a huge lift off the bench with 10 points and the game-winning assist.
"Our kids played an unbelievable game," Kramer said. "They executed, played great defense, rebounded -- we just had some kids make plays when we had to make plays. It's a huge win for us."
Next for the Redhawks, winners of five straight in the DVC -- a home game Friday against West Aurora.
"It's going to be a big game," Crawford said. "We need to prove ourselves against them."