Naperville Central 49, Glenbard East 43

Naperville Central's boys basketball players were bundled in their winter coats, searching for the right exit out of Glenbard East High School.

"It's never easy for us over here," said Redhawks coach Pete Kramer. He was talking about the game.

On the heels of their double-overtime win over West Aurora, the Redhawks held off Glenbard East 49-43 on Tuesday night in Lombard.

The win, coupled with West Aurora's loss to Naperville North, pulls Naperville Central into a three-way tie for the DuPage Valley Conference lead with West Aurora and Wheaton North.

The Redhawks (15-6, 7-2) have won 11 of 13 overall, seven in a row in the DVC.

"Every game is important," said Redhawks sophomore Matt Neufeld. "We just have to keep our eye on the next game and not look too far ahead. We're on a roll and want to keep it going."

Naperville Central led 28-20 at the half, and Neufeld's stickback seconds into the third quarter made it 30-20.

Glenbard East (10-9, 5-4)) pulled to within 34-29 after three quarters, and a free throw by Derak Stanback with 7:03 left in the fourth quarter made it 34-32.

But Neufeld followed with a three-point play at the other end, and while the Redhawks never did pull away Glenbard East never crept closer than 2.

Naperville Central knocked down 9 free throws in the quarter to maintain the lead.

"The biggest thing the whole night was we kept our composure," Kramer said. "When the momentum shifted their way, we kept our composure and executed."

Stanback scored 20 points and Paul Sanders had 9 points and 6 rebounds for Glenbard East. The Rams' bid for a comeback was derailed in large part by 7 turnovers in the fourth quarter, 21 in the game.

"The bottom line is we have to take care of the basketball. We didn't do that today," Glenbard East coach Scott Miller said.

For Naperville Central, Neufeld followed up a 14-point, 13-rebound effort against West Aurora with 15 points and 8 rebounds. He also hit 7 of 9 free throws.

"He's playing like a junior. He's not a sophomore any more," Kramer said. "He was outstanding. I can't be happier with Matt's progress."

Drew Crawford had a relatively modest 11 points. That was balanced out by Danny Ondik's 8 points, 7 for Harrison Daniels and 6 for Mike Schmitz.

"This team has been such a joy to coach," Kramer said, "because there's so much unselfishness. Nobody cares who scores."