Naperville North one win from conference crown
No triple-overtime drama this time.
In fact not much drama at all in Friday’s Naperville cross-town game.
That’ll be saved for Wednesday.
Naperville North’s boys basketball team set the stage for a thrilling finale in the DuPage Valley Conference thanks to Saturday’s 55-39 win at Naperville Central.
The Huskies (18-7, 11-2) and West Aurora remain tied atop the DVC standings with one game to play Wednesday. Naperville North plays host to Glenbard North, while the Blackhawks head to Glenbard East.
A victory seals at least a share of Naperville North’s first DVC title since 1998.
“We need one more win on Wednesday,” said Huskies senior Matt Stacho. “It’d mean so much. We’ve been talking about it all year. All we want to focus on is getting that championship.”
Naperville North’s defense set the tone on Saturday as the Huskies held Naperville Central (14-11, 5-8) — again playing without 6-foot-8 leading scorer Nick Czarnowski due to injury — scoreless until midway through the first quarter.
Still, the Redhawks stayed close until a barrage of 10 second-quarter turnovers steadily pushed the Huskies to a bigger lead.
Naperville North closed the first half on an 8-0 run, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Max Lewis, and started the third quarter with 5 straight points to build a 29-14 advantage.
After Naperville Central briefly trimmed the deficit to 34-25 with an Austin Pauga 3-pointer, 7 straight points from the Huskies created a gap that remained at least 13 points the rest of the game.
“Because (Czarnowski) is not in the middle, we’re not getting the looks that we used to get,” said Redhawks coach Pete Kramer. “Maybe it was their defense, but I just thought we played with little energy and very little intensity. It didn’t even feel like a Naperville North game.”
Twenty players scored in an extremely balanced showing from both sides. Stacho led all scorers with 11 points while Mike Keane scored all 10 of his points from the line. Pauga and Ian Lewandowski each had 6 points for Naperville Central.
“You know in our conference how tough it is to win the DVC title, especially when you’ve got the West Auroras and Glenbard Easts in there,” said Huskies coach Jeff Powers. “For us to have a chance with one game left, it means a lot to the kids.”