Neuqua Valley rocks Plainfield C.

It may have taken close to a quarter for Neuqua Valley's offense to shake off a little rust, but the Wildcats' defense and rebounding were rock-solid from the opening tip.

Seeing its first action after the holiday break, Neuqua Valley traveled to Plainfield Central Wednesday night for a nonconference boys basketball battle and eventually managed 11 points in the first quarter thanks in large part to 3- and 2-point field goals from Derek Raridon. But the Wildcats' defense and rebounding were in top form throughout the contest, which ended with the hosts being handed a 71-48 thumping.

"You always have to bring it on the road, especially against these guys since we have a little history with them," Neuqua's 6-foot-5 center Kareem Amedu said of the rivalry that's built in recent years between the schools. "We just took it to them tonight."

Amedu dominated Plainfield Central with 19 points and 9 rebounds, but he had plenty of help on both ends of the floor. Neuqua's defense limited the hosts to just 2 points in the first quarter, then used a 23-point offensive outburst in the second quarter to build a 34-16 lead at the half.

"I think in the first half our defense really was just tremendous," coach Todd Sutton said after his team improved to 13-1 on the year. "Kareem and (Dwayne) Evans were tremendous on the boards. They were around the rim tonight."

That they were. The Wildcats twin posts combined for 29 points and 17 rebounds including a dunk by Evans that gave the visitors a 52-33 lead with 1:17 left to play in the third quarter.

Plainfield Central coach Josh Virostko said his team needs to play better on both ends of the floor if it wants to run the floor with the likes of Neuqua.

"You've got to put it together to beat teams like Neuqua," he said. "What happened (on their second chances) is we didn't finish the plays. Sometimes we guarded them, forced tough shots, but we didn't finish the deal."

Not only were Evans and Amedu wreaking havoc inside, but Raridon burned Plainfield Central by draining midrange jumper after midrange jumper on his way to scoring 17 points.

"We played pretty well," Evans said. "In the second quarter we picked up our scoring, but the defense was there all night. I feel like we're definitely picking up the defense and we have a lot of team chemistry."

Derrick Marks led Plainfield Central with 12 points, while Dontae King tallied 7 of his 8 points in his team's 20-point third quarter, which ended with Neuqua on top 56-36.