Neuqua the toast of the town, defeating Naperville Central
It's hard to pass a torch when both players burn so brightly.
Dwayne Evans' heroic fourth quarter in Friday's Class 4A Oswego East sectional final lifted Neuqua Valley past Naperville Central and superstar Drew Crawford, 62-55.
Hoisting the Wildcats upon his 6-foot-5 frame, Evans scored 15 of his 30 points and grabbed 9 of his 17 rebounds in the last eight minutes to help end the stellar career of Crawford, a summer league teammate.
"Drew Crawford's got my Mr. Basketball vote," Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said, "but Dwayne Evans controlled that last quarter and a half like no one has controlled a game in a long time. Dominating on the glass. Dominating."
That's a word No. 1 seed Neuqua Valley (31-1) hopes to hear more Tuesday at the NIU supersectional. The Wildcats will play Dundee-Crown (23-5), a 51-49 winner over St. Charles North.
Evans' less-dominant 0-for-4 second quarter shooting after an 8-point first quarter motivated the junior forward.
"When I'm off I try to get it back on defense, and when that's not working I go back to try to get it back on offense. And my team needed it on offense tonight, so I tried to do that for them. Luckily I came through," he said.
Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer, whose second- seeded Redhawks finished at 27-3, saw "two different halves."
Crawford scored 19 of his 30 points by halftime to help his team post a 33-26 lead. Over the game Neuqua Valley sent five different defenders against the 6-foot-5 guard, notably Rahjan Muhammad and Steve Waeghe. The Wildcats' help defense also stiffened.
"That was our objective from the beginning of the game, just get him tired," Waeghe said.
"I think Drew had to handle the ball a little more than he's used to. He has to do so much offensively anyway, and I think that hurt him," said Kramer, who got 11 points from junior Nick Linne.
"I think we were a little impatient offensively," Kramer said. "Once we had a lead we just couldn't hold the ball, and that was a credit to them. They really pressured the ball and made us work for every pass we made. That kind of wore us down a little bit."
Naperville Central center Matt Neufeld scored 4 straight points and Crawford converted Linne's inbound pass for a 43-33 lead at 4:24 of the third quarter.
Neuqua countered with an 8-0 run capped by a 3 from Drew Sutton, who looked, hesitated, then let fly. A Cam Brate basket had the Redhawks up 49-43 early in the fourth quarter, but a trapping Neuqua Valley press was taking its toll.
"It kind of threw us off our game for a little while," said Crawford, who fouled out with 42.5 seconds left. "They were able to battle back and make a run at that time. It was a great press. It's something we should have stayed a little more composed in, but it was just a tough part of the game."
Evans scored on a putback after a steal by Derek Raridon, and when Evans stole the ball and dunked it two-handed, Neuqua led 52-51 with 4:49 left, its first lead since 7-5.
"Dunks always get the game a little bit more intense," Evans said.
Crawford summoned 4 more points - the Northwestern recruit's last prep basket came on a baseline pull-up for a 55-54 lead with 2:23 left. Sixteen seconds later Raridon nailed a 3 to go up for good, 57-55. Evans then went 5 of 8 from the line.
"Coach set up a play for me to come off a couple screens for a 3 in the corner. When coach calls a play for you, you're pretty confident," said Raridon, who scored 8 points while Muhammad had 11.