Seniors save they day for Naperville Central

Sophomores, as small as Carmel Catholic’s 5-foot-10 Nickai Poyser and as tall as Naperville Central’s 6-8 Nick Czarnowski, filled Wheeling’s basketball court.

“I told the guys people are going to come to the varsity game and a sophomore game is going to break out,” Carmel coach Tim Bowen joked.

At the end, Naperville Central’s Bryce Kirk and Ian Lewandowski showed why, ultimately, seniors often matter most at the varsity level.

Kirk canned a tiebreaking 3-pointer late, and Lewandowski sank 5 of 6 free throws, as Naperville Central defeated Carmel 54-46 in opening-round action of the Hardwood Classic on Tuesday.

Carmel (3-6) has four sophomores on its roster. Naperville Central (6-3) counts three.

“We played very strong defensively at the end,” Kirk said. “We also took care of the ball very well in the fourth quarter and hit our free throws. That made a big difference.”

The two young teams entered the fourth quarter tied 38-38. Naperville Central led 44-40 with less than four minutes left, but Carmel sophomore Ian Kristan (game-high 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) hit 2 free throws. Brandon Motzel then stole the ball at half-court and fed Zenen Davismckennie for a layup to pull Carmel even at 44-44 with 2:30 left.

The Corsairs’ momentum didn’t last long, however.

Kirk, whose 3 first-quarter fouls had him on the bench for most of the game, took a pass from Czarnowski and showed no hesitancy in draining a 3-pointer from the left wing with 2:12 to go.

“Coach really emphasizes that if you’re open, take the shot,” said Kirk, who also sank a 3 in the first quarter. “He doesn’t want you passing up open shots.”

Down the stretch, Czarnowski found himself guarding Kristan, who yields 5 inches to the Redhawks’ center. Czarnowski used his length to keep the Corsairs’ hot shooter from getting any open looks.

“He’s so long that he doesn’t need to get up on the ball,” Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said of Czarnowski. “He can back off a little bit and still contest the shot.”

Lewandowski’s 5 free throws came after sophomore Billy Kirby scored on a drive to get Carmel within 49-46 with a minute left.

But the Corsairs didn’t score again. It was their fifth loss by 8 or fewer points.

“It really comes down to who wants it more,” said the senior Davismckennie, who had 8 points, 5 steals and 4 rebounds.

“It’s just tough having loss after loss, especially when you’re so close.”

Czarnowski had 10 points and was Naperville Central’s only double-digit scorer. Sophomore forward Austin Pauga hit three 3-pointers, including one in the fourth, to account for his 9 points. Sophomore guard Ryan Antony had 8 points, including a pair of 3s.

“I thought for three quarters we kind of went through the motions with a lot of things we were trying to do,” said Kramer, whose Redhawks play St. Viator at 7:15 p.m. today. “We were just out of sync. I thought the fourth quarter we settled down, executed on the offensive end and defended pretty well.”

“I’m sure there are going to be times when we get bludgeoned pretty good by some older, tougher, better basketball teams,” Bowen said of his young squad, which takes on Maine West at 12:15 p.m. today. “It’s a good group. They know the game. They’re athletic, but they lack just some of the toughness that you need at the varsity level.”