Naperville Central breezes to victory

Naperville Central was a bit sluggish early against Carmel in its opening game at the 32nd annual Wildcat Hardwood Classic at Wheeling.

But the defending champion Redhawks turned up the intensity on defense in the second quarter against the Corsairs and ran away with a 75-47 victory.

Naperville Central (7-3) stopped a two-game losing streak and advanced to play Prospect (8-1) in the quarterfinals at 3:45 p.m. today.

Senior Matt Neufeld paced Naperville Central, scoring a game-high 19 points and helping offset the loss of starter David Niggins, who missed the game because of a concussion, and starter Paul Wirtz, who went out early with a sprained ankle.

Senior Bobby Czarnowski scored 12 points and seniors Nick Linne and Mark Bicek added 10 apiece for a balanced Redhawks attack.

Naperville Central entered the second quarter leading 21-16, but Patrick Cox hit 3 of 4 free throws to open the quarter, narrowing Carmel's deficit to 2 points.

The Redhawks then switched from their man-to-man defense to a matchup zone and Carmel had no answer.

Naperville Central used a 19-3 run to finish the half, limiting Carmel 1 of 9 field goals in taking a commanding 40-22 halftime advantage.

"That was one of the big keys," Neufeld said of the sticky matchup zone. "It pretty much stopped everything inside and forced them to shoot outside."

Connor Sexson scored 7 of his 9 points in the opening quarter to lead Carmel, with Douglas Meyer adding 5 of his 7 points in the first quarter, including a 3-pointer with 2:15 remaining to give the Corsairs a brief 15-12 lead.

Now Naperville Central is bracing for an intriguing second-round matchup with Prospect.

"We're two different teams," said Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer of today's game. "They want to get up and down a little bit more, we like to play half court. It should be fun."