Crawford, Naperville Central turn up heat on Lake Park

Naperville Central 70, Lake Park 52

For three quarters Monday, the Lake Park boys basketball team stayed on Naperville Central's heels in opening-round play of Fenton's Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving tournament.

Then the Redhawks pulled up their socks and turned up the heat.

Naperville Central (1-0) employed a three-quarter-court press in the fourth quarter, forcing Lancers turnovers and earning a 25-8 scoring edge to the final buzzer.

"We got a couple quick turnovers for easy layups, and that opened up the lead," said Redhawks coach Pete Kramer. "I thought we played very good defense in the second half."

The point man on the Redhawks' press down the stretch was Drew Crawford, who also led all scorers with 31 points to go with 6 rebounds.

"We really picked up our defense in the fourth quarter," Crawford said. "We got the intensity and started working harder."

While Lake Park (0-1) ultimately lost 70-52, the Lancers showed plenty of scrappiness for most of the night.

"Lake Park beat us by 28 last year and they got all five starters back, so I'm pleased to see where we're at," said Lancers coach Cray Allen. "I was impressed with the way we played for the first 28 minutes of the game. We'll take that as a plus and go on with it."

Matt Drufke scored 16 points, and Danny Bayliss netted 19 to lead the Lancers, who also got a solid defensive effort from Greg Whetsel on the night.

The Redhawks' Matt Neufeld scored 8 of his 15 points in the third quarter in establishing himself inside, and "I thought Dave Mallet did some big things defensively in the second half," Kramer said.

The Lancers' Jason Sotira hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter to pull Lake Park within a point of the Redhawks at 45-44.

That's when the Redhawks' defense took over. A Neufeld basket, a Nick Linne 3-pointer, and a 3-point play from Crawford gave the Redhawks a 52-44 lead - and they never looked back.

Crawford scored 14 points in the final quarter, Linne finished with 11 points, and point guard Dan Ondik steered the ship well for the Redhawks throughout.

"We've got kids that have settled into their roles from last year's team, and guys like Bobby Czarnowski and Joe Rickert also gave us good minutes off the bench," Kramer said. "Lake Park played well. They were well-prepared and they gave us a fight."

Allen's squad kept Crawford as quiet as possible until the final quarter.

"That's a big-time team, and Crawford's a big-time player," Allen said. "We held him down pretty well through three quarters, but then he blew up on us."