Redhawks avoid letdown, storm past Hilltoppers

Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer totally understands how his team could suffer a little nonconference letdown following another big Friday night DuPage Valley Conference triumph.

But that's not to say he's about to sit back idly and not say a thing or two to his Redhawks. At halftime of Saturday's boys basketball game with visiting Glenbard West, Kramer made it clear to his players that they should not be happy with a 26-21 lead on the Hilltoppers, who came to Naperville with a 2-4 record.

After jumping ahead 9-2 following a dunk and a 3-pointer from Drew Crawford, the 7-1 Redhawks looked like they might just breeze past the school that had ended their season last spring in the playoffs. But the Hilltoppers connected on four 3-pointers in the first half - three from Jud Anderson - and trailed by just five at the intermission.

"Coach Kramer gave us a good talk at halftime," said Crawford, who finished with 20 points in the 50-41 Redhawks win. "He told us we needed to play harder and to tighten things up. Sometimes it's tough to get up for nonconference games right after a big conference win, but we've done a nice job in coming out tough in both games, both weekends (this one and the last one)."

The Redhawks came out real tough in the third quarter on Saturday, holding the Hilltoppers to 1-for-10 shooting and just 4 points while taking a 39-25 lead into the fourth quarter. With 10 Naperville Central players seeing action in the fourth quarter, Glenbard West managed to make the final score appear a little deceiving. But after David Mallett's 3-pointer made it a 45-25 margin early in the fourth, the outcome never was in doubt.

"We were just not executing at all on offense. We were stagnant, we were not reversing the ball, and that's what you get: a 4-point quarter," Hilltoppers coach Tim Hoder said.

Anderson, Bryant Venson and Tyler Warden each scored in double figures, but the Hilltoppers had no answers for the Naperville Central frontcourt of Crawford, Matt Neufeld and Nick Linne. Crawford finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks, Linne added 9 points, and Neufeld had 8 points, 3 boards and 3 steals.

"Halftime gave us a little time to strategize," said Neufeld, describing his team's big third quarter. "Then we went out and executed. A lot of credit goes to the guards (for denying the perimeter). This is a huge victory and kind of redemption for us."

With Warden scoring 7 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, the Hilltoppers closed out the game with a 16-5 run, but all that did was make the final score tighter. Naperville Central had long since locked up its seventh win in eight games this season.