Naperville Central wins again at West Aurora
The roars that went up in the Naperville Central locker room following a 47-39 win Friday at West Aurora made it seem like the Redhawks hadn't won in Aurora in 30 years, like they had just removed the proverbial monkey from their back.
In fact, that breakthrough victory came last year, which made Friday's victory two straight on West Aurora's home court.
So why the celebration? Because Naperville Central, fresh off last year's DuPage Valley Conference title, is in no mood to rest on that.
"We knew nobody really beats them twice in a row at home," said forward Bobby Czarnowski, one of three new starters. "We wanted to show we could. We came out with a lot of intensity and when the game was over we were so excited we had to release everything."
Naperville Central improved to 5-1, 1-0, showing it can keep winning games even with last year's star Drew Crawford now at Northwestern.
"I think we can make our own identity," Czarnowski said. "Last year we were obviously relying on Drew for good reason. This year on any given night anyone can put up big numbers. You never know who is going to score."
The Redhawks stymied West Aurora (1-4, 0-1), holding the Blackhawks to 13 points in the first half and 28 percent shooting for the game.
Czarnowski and center Matt Neufeld both scored 16 points to lead the Redhawks, whose only loss came to South Elgin.
"We knew that defense and rebounding and giving it our all was the key to coming out of this place with a win," said Neufeld, who pulled down a game-high 9 rebounds, helping Naperville Central to a 32-23 advantage.
"We had a game plan and everyone did an excellent job executing."
Neufeld scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half. The Redhawks led a defensive struggle 17-13 at halftime thanks to a 6:46 scoreless stretch by West Aurora in the second quarter.
The Blackhawks led 12-6 when sophomore Juwan Starks, an All-Area selection as a freshman, picked up his second foul 25 seconds into the second quarter. With Starks on the bench the rest of the half, Naperville Central outscored West Aurora 11-1.
Naperville Central played its best basketball in the third quarter, making 8 of 14 shots from the field and not turning the ball over. A 15-0 run opened up the Redhawks' largest lead of the game, 37-21.
West Aurora turned to a 1-2-2 trap in the fourth quarter, forcing 10 turnovers to pull as close as 43-37 with 41 seconds left on Tyrone Carey's 3-pointer.
"We could have took better care of the ball down the stretch but we were caught between should we pull it out or attack. That made the game a little more interesting," said Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer, who otherwise was thrilled with his team's defense and fight.
"We have some kids that are young and inexperienced and they didn't back down. Our defense was outstanding the whole game. "
Carey led West Aurora with 11 points, Derrick Johnson had 8 and D.J. Vaughn 7.
"We didn't play much basketball," West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman said. "You have to give Naperville Central some of that credit. I thought they played pretty tough defense. They were ready to play and we weren't."
West Aurora's shooting struggles extended to the free-throw line, where it made just 8 of 16.
"The thing that has got me flustered is we didn't take good shots and we shot some hurried shots," Kerkman said. "I was disappointed we got beat off the dribble way too much, but (47 points) that's not bad defense."