Naperville Central needs OT to clinch DVC title
After 15 years of waiting, Naperville Central's boys basketball team knows better than anyone how hard it is to win the DuPage Valley Conference championship outright.
It didn't get any easier Friday night.
Despite being pushed to overtime by Wheaton Warrenville South, the host Redhawks hung on for a 62-57 victory to clinch the DVC title outright for the first time since 1994.
Naperville Central (22-2, 12-0) already had clinched a share of the championship. But after sharing last year's title with Wheaton North, the Redhawks wanted this year's crown all to themselves.
"It's great, this is exactly what we wanted going into the playoffs," said Redhawks senior David Mallett. "Now we want to win two more and go undefeated in conference."
Friday's game turned into an incredible duel between Northwestern-bound Redhawks senior Drew Crawford, who had 27 points and 13 rebounds, and WW South sophomore Reilly O'Toole, who poured in 31 points.
Six lead changes and four ties in the second half culminated in Crawford's layup with 33 seconds left in regulation that put the Redhawks ahead 51-49. O'Toole answered with his own bucket in the waning seconds to send the game to overtime.
Crawford, who sat for significant chunks of the fourth quarter after picking up his fourth foul, converted a three-point play to start overtime. Danny Ondik twice split a pair of free throws to put Naperville Central on top 56-51.
The Redhawks hit 6 of 8 from the line in the final 28 seconds to seal the win. Four straight came from Crawford, who lauded the effort of his teammates as he struggled with foul trouble.
"My teammates are tough," he said. "They've been stepping up big-time on the offensive end and the defensive end. All of our games have been team efforts."
WW South (15-9, 6-6) trailed until late in the third quarter when O'Toole came alive. He scored 26 of his points after halftime and hit four of his five 3s. O'Toole had all but 10 of his team's post-halftime points, including 11 of 12 fourth-quarter points.
"Knowing we can beat the conference champion but not being able to do it is kind of disappointing," O'Toole said. "We played pretty well for most of the game, but they just had too many weapons."
Mallett's 17 points featured five 3-pointers, including a huge one when Crawford was on the bench with his fourth foul. Nick Linne added 12 points while Will Dolatowski scored 11 points for the Tigers.
"It just seemed like so many kids were making plays," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "We couldn't get a run going because we couldn't get a stop. They're so hard to defend."