Glenbard North leads all the way against Naperville Central

The Glenbard North boys basketball team bent but didn't break on Friday night.

The Panthers countered a few rallies by Naperville Central and won going away 72-58 in a DuPage Valley Conference contest in Carol Stream.

"I thought we played with poise," Glenbard North coach Joe Larson said. "It's always nice to play with the lead. You play with more confidence, you play with a little more bounce in your step and we did a good job of that tonight."

Glenbard North (8-8, 3-4) never trailed all evening, taking the lead for good in the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Mike Carev.

"We knew they were a good team. They have a lot of weapons, guys who can shoot the ball," Larson said. "I thought our guys came out with a lot of intensity tonight especially defensively."

While the Panthers never relinquished the lead, they never truly were able to put the Redhawks out of the game until the final few minutes.

Naperville Central (12-6, 4-3) fell behind by 11 points early in the second quarter but battled back to within 28-26 before fading to an 8-point deficit at halftime. James Fleming scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the first half to pace the Panthers.

"When we score 58 points we should win the game," Redhawks coach Pete Kramer said. "They just played real well. We caught them on the wrong night."

The Redhawks outscored the Panthers by 6 points in the third quarter, and Bobby Czarnowski's 3-pointer in the final minute pulled them to within 49-47.

But the Panthers responded by playing with poise down the stretch, patiently running the offense and then utilizing cuts to the basket for open shots.

"At halftime we wanted them to come out and guard us. We thought that we could take advantage of that with our quickness and guys did a great job of dishing off and guys did a good job of getting open," Larson said. "I thought we were very unselfish there. We either got a foul or a layup or an open jump shot."

Reggie Davis and Brandon Clark benefitted on the inside for the Panthers, combining for 13 points, 9 which came on free throws.

The winners also received 11 points each from Carev and Anthony Keener, both of whom Larson praised for their defense.

"Those two guys stepped up big-time tonight. I thought those guys were the MVPs of the ballgame," he said. "They really wore down their guards. They pressured all the way up the floor and people don't understand how much energy that takes, and to shoot on top of it on the other end, that's just great."

Naperville Central, which hadn't lost since before Christmas and had won five straight games, received 14 points apiece from Czarnowski, Matt Neufeld and David Niggins.