Lopez lifts Naperville Central

Naperville Central junior Nick Lopez wasn't expecting the basketball with time about to expire in the fourth quarter of Friday's game at Glenbard East, but as usual he was ready for it.

Lopez's 3-point basket at the buzzer sent the DuPage Valley Conference game into overtime, where his steal and two free throws helped seal a 58-54 Redhawks victory in Lombard.

"I know my team was counting on me to come in and make a big shot, so I just wanted to help my team out, get into overtime, and we knew we could win in overtime," Lopez said of the 3-pointer. "We've been in that situation once before, and we just knew we wanted to win that one. Big game."

"Nicky's just been coming on and coming on all year," Redhawks coach Pete Kramer said. " ... He just goes in and he's always ready. He doesn't have to get in the game for a minute or whatever. He's in the game for five seconds and he's ready to shoot."

The Redhawks (11-6, 3-4) looked like they might run away with the victory when they scored the game's first 13 points. But the Rams (9-9, 3-4) clawed their way back, going up 28-27 in the third quarter on a Tahron Harvey three-point play. The Rams never gave up the lead in regulation, going up as many as 7 points in the third period before Lopez hit from 3 feet behind the arc at the fourth-quarter buzzer.

"I was hoping he would miss it," Harvey said. "When the shot went up I was like, 'Please, please miss, please miss.' But the shot went in and we had to go to overtime."

The Redhawks finally regained the lead for good in overtime when 6-foot-7 sophomore center Nick Czarnowski scored with 1:17 left. The Rams were down 56-54 and looking to end the game like Lopez ended regulation when the 5-8 guard came up with his steal, was fouled and sealed the victory at the free-throw line with 4.8 seconds to go.

"The nerves started kicking in, but my teammates were counting on me," said Lopez, who finished with 11 points and 3 steals. "Free throws win games, so I just wanted to knock it down and help our team win."

"It was a huge win for our kids, just a huge win," Kramer said. "They just battled. We got some tough breaks down the stretch of the game and the kids stayed with it and kept believing, and I thought we executed hugely in the overtime."

Kramer also praised the guard play of senior Ian Lewandowski and Co. Lewandowski had 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 points while the Redhawks turned the ball over just 7 times in the game.

"He just gives us so much leadership and toughness and he does so many little things out there, and because of how strong he is and athletic he is he gets other people open," Kramer said.

Czarnowski scored a team-high 15 points, and junior guard Mike Blaszceyk scored 14 thanks to four 3-pointers.

Dante Bailey scored a game-high 22 points, and Harvey added 20 points and 6 rebounds.