With youth comes unpredictability.
It’s a lesson Naperville Central is continuing to learn throughout the early stages of this season.
Almost seeing a 14-point, second-half lead completely evaporate, Naperville Central withstood a second-half charge put forth by Justin Pierce and Glenbard West to emerge with a 47-45 victory over the Hilltoppers Saturday night in Naperville.
After Pierce’s triple from the top of the key and a bucket from Alex Passi allowed the Hilltoppers to tie the game twice in the waning minutes, Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer put the ball in the hands of perhaps his best player, Matthew Meier, with 28 seconds left.
Attempting to take the ball into the lane against the Hilltoppers’ Kalen Starkey, Starkey met Meier at the apex twice with a pair of blocks before Emmanuel Rugamba’s rebound and putback as time expired proved to be the game-winner.
“’Memphis’ had been kind of working for us throughout the game. It’s kind of our go-to (play) in situations like that. So I just took ‘Memphis’ and I tried to drive and (Starkey) is long,” Meier said. “He’s taller than me, so I couldn’t really get over him, so I got stuffed. I tried to look for Nate (Dahl) in the corner and they were denying him the ball. So I got stuffed and luckily it just ended up in Manny’s hands. Manny was strong and put it up and it went in. It was awesome.”
Rugamba’s rebound and putback of Starkey’s block of Meier marked his only points of the game, but it couldn’t have come at a better time for Naperville Central (5-1), which has won five straight games after a season-opening, 10-point loss to De La Salle.
Harry Hallstrom had eight of his team-high 14 points in the fourth for Naperville Central, including a couple key rebounds and putbacks.
As the Hilltoppers were making their run in the second half behind Pierce, who scored a game-high 18 points, Hallstrom recorded eight fourth-quarter points to help the young Redhawks keep the Hilltoppers at bay.
“I posted up a lot in the fourth quarter, getting it down (inside) and I had a lot of putbacks off Nate Dahl’s misses, which helped us out a lot and carried Nate through (just a four-point night), too,” Hallstrom said.
Hallstrom, a 6-foot-7, 195-pound junior, pulled down seven rebounds for the Redhawks, who got 28 combined points from their big men.
“It’s helpful having me being 6-7 and (sophomore) Matt Skowronski being 6-9. We also have Brandon Baskin, who’s a good 3-4 position, as well as Liam Heath coming off the bench getting some solid buckets throughout the game,” Hallstrom said.
The Redhawks used a 19-5 run, spanning the end of the first half and start of the second to turn a 12-12 game into a 31-17 advantage.
Meier had nine of his 13 points during the run, but it was the problems the size of Hallstrom, Heath, Brandon Baskin and Skowronski caused the Hilltoppers to endure in the second that allowed the Redhawks to gain some separation.
With his team now two games into its stretch of playing six games in eight days, Kramer’s pleasure with how his young charges are battling through the ups and downs of playing on the varsity level is evident.
It’s an adjustment certainly made easier with five straight victories entering dates with Alcott and Lake Park early next week in an Addison Trail Invite before welcoming Naperville North next Friday.
“I think there’s a little bit of a toughness to us. I think we need to work on a few things on the defensive end. On the offensive end, there’s nights where the ball just doesn’t drop,” Kramer said. “That was one of the nights where we found out, ‘Hey, you know what? We got to win this game on the defensive end.’ But our defensive average is probably right around 45 points. So, I mean, if a team scores 45 points, we should win. That’s the way we feel.
“But I just think it’s a big effort and we have a lot of young kids. We got a sophomore, a bunch of juniors and two seniors and one senior in street clothes. We get (Alex) Pomeroy back on Monday. I think that’ll help us a little bit, too. Just give us a little bit more experience and a little bit more athleticism.”
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