Naperville Central 88, Geneva 84 (3 OT)
Here are the ingredients of March (a couple days early) Madness:
• The Sectional of Death;
• Dunks;
• Intentional fouls;
• Technical fouls;
• Not one, not two, but three quarter-ending buzzer-beaters;
• Two players with 40-plus points.
Oh, yeah, and three overtimes.
That's what it took on Wednesday night for No. 5 Naperville Central to finally subdue 12th-seeded Geneva 88-84 in a Class 4A Naperville North regional semifinal classic, with Naperville Central's Drew Crawford scoring 40 points and being outdone by 42 from Geneva's Max Cary.
"What a game. I feel for Geneva. Whoever loses that game, gosh…," said an exhausted Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer, his voice trailing off.
In a game that featured 129 shot attempts, 65 free-throw tries, 76 rebounds and 45 fouls over 44 minutes of scintillating action, it was finally sophomore Matt Neufeld's two free throws with 45 seconds left in the third overtime that gave the Redhawks (20-7) an 84-82 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
"You just have to take everything out of your mind," Neufeld said of his approach at the line, "and have confidence that if you miss the team will bail you out."
In a game where any of a thousand different plays could have been the turning point, it was the final four minutes of regulation, with the Redhawks trailing 53-43, that made the difference. That's when their no-tomorrow full-court press forced the Vikings (17-12) into a series of costly turnovers that allowed Naperville Central to slowly creep back into the game, which went to the first overtime tied at 60 thanks to Nick Liffe's bucket with 23 seconds left off a Crawford steal and feed.
"That was our last straw," Kramer said. "We gave them the three-quarter-court press and finally went man-to-man and jumped the ball."
"They did a nice job pushing us away from the basket and getting hands on the ball," said Geneva coach Tim Pease.
The Vikings also were hurt by missing 12 free throws in regulation.
The overtimes, which ended tied at 68 and 76 before the final, saw both teams have chances to win, but they couldn't convert at the buzzer. That was a far cry from regulation, when the first three quarters ended with last-second 3-point conversions by Geneva's Alex Turnowchyk -- who also hit a couple huge 3s in OT -- and Jeremy D'Amico and Naperville Central's Danny Ondik.
Ondik's shot gave Naperville Central a 28-23 halftime lead, but Geneva quickly erased that in the third quarter with a 21-7 advantage that gave the Vikings a 44-35 bulge after three periods, setting the stage for the heroics to come.
Naperville Central advances to meet 13th-seeded Glenbard West in the Naperville North regional final at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The winner will advance to next week's East Aurora sectional against the Batavia-Bartlett winner.