Glenbard North slams Naperville Central

Glenbard North's Josh Fleming had a dunk that brought the house down in Carol Stream.

His 25 other points helped bring down DuPage Valley Conference foe Naperville Central.

Fleming led all Panthers scorers with 27 points while teammate Ryan Krueger chipped in 18 as the Panthers dominated the Redhawks 68-51 Friday evening.

"Josh was huge tonight," Panthers coach Joe Larson said. "But the key tonight was how we played defense. They can shoot the ball well, and we crowded their shooters so they wouldn't have open looks. We made it really tough for them to score."

"They're a great team, and they played with a lot more energy," Redhawks coach Pete Kramer said. "We weren't ready to play, and that's what happens when you play a team that's hungry."

The Panthers jumped out early, going on an 11-2 run after yielding the opening basket. Fleming powered the run with 7 points in the quarter, but Naperville Central clawed back to within 5 on a pair of Mike Gruenthal layups. The Panthers wasted little time in the second quarter, opening with a 3-point basket from sophomore Chavares Flanigan and then a dunk from Krueger. The Redhawks answered with a quick 9-2 run, that had Naperville Central down by a point. But that was a close as the Redhawks got.

Glenbard North (6-5, 3-1) posted a 13-4 run in the final three minutes of the quarter, fueled by Fleming and Krueger's combined 15 points. Krueger ended the half with an uncontested layup, handing the Panthers a 33-23 lead.

"When it started going bad, we just couldn't stop it," Kramer said. "Credit them, they played a great game."

In the second half it was more of the same. Despite a furious Redhawks comeback bid, the Panthers answered with quick points and dominating stretches.

The Redhawks used a Josh McMillan layup to pull within 5 at the 4:45 mark of the third quarter. But after a timeout the Panthers responded with 10-2 run that pushed their lead to 47-34. The Redhawks (9-4, 1-3) were outscored 21-12 in the final period and watched as Fleming punctuated his performance with the thunderous one-handed dunk.

"Josh had a dominant game, no doubt about it," Kramer said. "He played aggressive and under control. He was huge."