Naperville Central comeback stuns St. Viator
Naperville Central looked as if it was going to be the latest speed bump to the St. Viator double-digit express Wednesday night.
No one had come closer than 10 points to the unbeaten Lions. It seemed to be business as usual as they stormed to a 16-point lead 5:13 before halftime in their quarterfinal of the 34th annual Wildcat Hardwood Classic.
But the Redhawks decided they weren’t going to just be run out of the Wheeling gym and they got back into the game early in the second half. A 16-point run in the final 2:29 completed a stunning turnaround as they won 74-60.
“When we went on a run in the third quarter,” said Redhawks sophomore Austin Pauga, “we realized this team wasn’t that much better than us even though they were up 16 points.”
Pauga scored a game-high 23 points and hit three 3-pointers and 6-foot-8 sophomore Ian Czarnowski overcame a slow start to finish with 20 points and 8 rebounds.
Sophomore Ryan Antony’s third 3 with 2:09 left put the Redhawks (7-3) ahead for good at 62-60. They’ll play today’s 8:45 p.m. semifinal against Libertyville (9-2), which edged Fremd 56-53.
“I thought we woke up and we started competing,” said Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer after his team shot 14-for-20 from the field and had a 17-6 rebound edge in the second half. “We were lucky we were down 11 (35-24) at halftime. We should have been down 25.
“When these kids execute and share the ball it’s a lot of fun to watch. That’s a very good win against a very good basketball team.”
Czarnowski missed his first 3 shots and sat for a good chunk of time as Viator (11-1) opened a 21-5 lead. But Antony and Ian Lewandowski (12 points, 5 assists) started finding Czarnowski inside.
He gave the Redhawks their first lead at 43-42 with 2:37 left in the third on a rebound basket after reserve sparkplug Mike Gruenthal drew a charge.
“I definitely didn’t have the right mindset and didn’t come out like I needed to,” Czarnowski said. “As soon as I got in the flow of the game things started falling.”
And shots stopped falling for the Lions as they shot 10-for-19 in the first half but went just 10-for-26 after intermission.
“We had a chance to kill it and take over the game and take it away,” said Viator point guard D.J. Morris, who had 18 points and 4 assists before fouling out with 53 seconds left. “We came out (after halftime) already feeling like the game was over for us.
“It didn’t seem like we wanted to win. It’s a credit to them because they wanted it more than us tonight.”
Viator rallied from a 57-52 deficit to go ahead 60-58 with 2:49 left when Morris found Ore Arogundade (17 points) for a 3.
“We still had the momentum at that point,” Pauga said. “It didn’t really shake our momentum at all.”
Naperville Central made 13 of 16 free throws in the closing run. Drives by Arogundade to extend a 1-point lead and by Morris to get within 2 points rattled in and out and Viator will play at 5:30 p.m. today against Fremd.
“To this point we’ve done a great job of getting people down and ending games early,” said Viator coach Mike Howland. “We had a chance to do that tonight and didn’t.
“A team like that is dangerous. The big kid gets going, their shooters get comfortable and now it’s a game again.”