Naperville Central can't pull off upset against Glenbard East

Try as it might - and it did quite well at times - Naperville Central just could not hand visiting Glenbard East its first conference loss of the season.

On a night when the Redhawks (13-9, 5-5) were at the top of their game for much of the contest, the visiting Rams were just too good down the stretch in a 69-56 victory that improved them to 10-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference and 20-1 overall.

The Rams hit four quick 3s in the opening quarter but still trailed 31-29 at the half as Naperville Central center Matt Neufeld was 6 of 6 from the floor with 14 of his team-high 21 points through two quarters. Johnny Hill then put on a show for the visitors with 12 of his game-high 26 points in the third quarter, yet the Rams had to settle for a 50-48 lead after

Nick Linne nailed a 3 from the corner at the end of the third quarter for the Redhawks. But a dominant fourth quarter saw the Rams outscore the Redhawks 19-8 while pressuring the home team into 8 turnovers.

"It was a good, hard-fought DVC ballgame," Rams coach Scott Miller said. "I thought we just did a great job in the fourth quarter."

But Hill did a great job throughout, and Glenbard East needed that kind of game on a night when the outside shots didn't fall with its normal regularity. After the four early 3s, the Rams added just one more long-range shot the rest of the way, a 3-pointer by center Shawn Havenga that cut a Redhawks' 5-point lead down to 34-32.

Glenbard East survived a 5-of-16 night from beyond the arc in large part because Hill managed to slice his way through the defense for a number of driving baskets, including back-to-back three-point plays late in the third quarter as part of a 10-0 run that turned a 45-40 deficit into a 50-45 Rams lead.

"I have to give credit to my teammates for finding me when I was hot and for trusting in me," said Hill, who tallied 18 points in the second half, including a breakaway dunk in the final minute that put an exclamation point on his big night.

"Is Jon Hill the real deal or what?" Miller asked. "He ended up really being the difference in the ballgame."

Even in defeat, Redhawks coach Pete Kramer was happy to see his team play much better than it had earlier this week in a lackluster loss to Wheaton Warrenville South.

"I'm extremely proud of the way the kids battled," he said. "We had these guys right where we wanted them until the fourth quarter. But they're so quick and so athletic. They're just a very good basketball team."

Neufeld, who finished the night 9 of 9 from the floor, also liked his team's effort, if not the outcome on Friday.

"We definitely stuck with them for three quarters," he said. "You never want to say with a loss that it was good, but we played real well, especially in the second quarter."

In the end, however, Hill was just too tough to stop.

"Hill played an excellent game," Neufeld said. "He was able to weave his way through just about everything."