Wheaton North slips past Naperville Central
With an 8-point lead and less than three minutes to play, Wheaton North coach Jim Nazos was surely going to get his first win inside Naperville Central's gymnasium.
And he did, but not before the Redhawks made a wild rally to tie the game at 70 and again at 73 on late 3-pointers from Kevin Linne and Ian Lewandowski. But the hosts, without injured center Nick Czarnowski, finally ran out of miracles after the Falcons' Ryan Jordan scored a three-point play on a drive to the basket with 14.2 seconds left to give Wheaton North a 76-73 lead.
When Mike Blaszceyk came up short while attempting to tie the game yet again on what would have been Naperville Central's 12th 3-pointer of the night, Linne's putback at the buzzer left the Redhawks on the short end of a 76-75 score.
"It's been a long time," Nazos said of the Falcons' drought at Naperville Central. "But it's a great win against a great team."
The 7-16 Falcons, who won for just the third time this season in the DuPage Valley Conference, took full advantage of the absence of the 6-foot-8 Czarnowski. The visitors went inside to 6-11 Andrew Zelis from the start, and the big fella had 8 of his 23 points in the first quarter.
After the Redhawks began to double-team Zelis down low, things opened up for guard Sam Otto, who had a personal-high 30 points. Otto hit a pair of 3s, slammed home a breakaway dunk and dropped in a variety of short jumpers and layups.
But even with the Falcons' 1-2 punch accounting for 53 points, Naperville Central (14-10, 5-7) just kept on fighting back. Blaszceyk scored a team-high 16 points off the bench, including a trio of 3s and five straight free throws in the third quarter. All told five Redhawks scored in double figures and four different players knocked down multiple shots from beyond the arc.
"The effort was outstanding and the kids never gave us which is a sign of the character of this team," said Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer, who is not sure if Czarnowski will be able to go in Saturday's cross-town battle with Naperville North. "Linne came up big at the end for us. He's just a senior that didn't want to lose."
Linne scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, while Austin Pauga added 13 points before fouling out with 2:08 to play, in part because at times he was attempting to slow the much-taller Zelis.
In the end Wheaton North just had too much offense between Otto and Zelis and of course plenty of heart from Jordan, who saw an opening with the game tied late and darted to the basket for the decisive three-point play.
"That was awesome," Otto said of his teammate's winning basket. "That was just instinct and a great basket."