Naperville Central overcomes West Chicago

For the first five minutes of Friday's DuPage Valley Conference tilt, West Chicago was playing sound basketball. Then Naperville Central's defense took full control of the game en route to a 58-39 win in West Chicago.

West Chicago (4-10, 0-6) trailed 11-8 with 3:03 to go in the opening quarter, then the Redhawks turned up the defense to a suffocating level.

Naperville Central (7-9, 2-4) proceeded to hold the Wildcats to no field goals for just over 10 minutes. The West Chicago drought began in the final three minutes of the first quarter and lasted until a minute remained in the second quarter. The defensive pressure led to a 19-5 run and effectively put the game out of reach as the Redhawks took a 30-13 lead at the half.

"Our defense has gotten a lot better the last couple of weeks," Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said. "We've all decided as a group to make a commitment to playing hard defense, and we're more aggressive."

The staunch defense for Naperville Central allowed it to effectively transition into its offense, led by freshman center Nick Czarnowski and senior guard Mike Schremp. Both players tallied 16 points as they kept the Wildcats' defense off balance for most of the game. Senior forward David Niggins also chipped in with 14 points to give West Chicago more fits.

"We went to a 1-3-1 zone and that slowed them down," Schremp said. "It all started at the defensive end, then we could do the high-low with Nick. We had our hands in passing lanes and got deflections and that created offense. When we do that we're in rhythm."

Naperville Central only outscored West Chicago by two points in the second half, but the damage had been done as the Redhawks forced at least 5 Wildcats' turnovers each quarter to gain the sizeable lead.

"We can't keep shooting ourselves in the foot," junior forward Justin Mundt said. "Climbing back in the game isn't easy, and it takes us out of our offense. When teams get up big early on against us, they get more aggressive and it messes things up. Our help side has to get to the line quicker, because when they pound it inside it brings us in, then they hit shots from the outside and drive to the hoop more."

Mundt poured in a game-high 18 points, but the combination of defensive pressure and offensive balance from Naperville Central proved too much to overcome.

"David's a tough matchup and he's kind of the neutralizer," Kramer said. "Tonight they were looking to take David away and that opened up (Czarnowski) and Schremp. When we knock down shots and defend we're not a bad basketball team."