Two steps forward, one step back.
For the young team Naperville Central is employing, that has been the constant battle in a lot of ways for much of the year.
Already having secured a victory over Illinois-bound Aaron Jordan and Plainfield East earlier in the week, Naperville Central took the floor against Wheaton Warrenville South hoping to sustain that momentum.
Josh Ruggles got in the way.
The Wheaton Academy transfer scored a season-high 32 points as Wheaton Warrenville South cruised to a 63-49 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Naperville Central on Friday night in Naperville.
“My teammates were spotting up. They were ready to shoot and spacing the floor and when they’re like that, it makes it a lot harder to help off them because they do a great job of knocking down the open shot,” Ruggles said. “So it gives me a lot of space to make moves and to set myself and others up. They just did a good job of spacing the floor. That was part of our game plan.”
Half of Ruggles’ 16 first-half points came during a personal 8-0 run in the second quarter for Wheaton Warrenville South (9-10, 2-3) that broke a 15-15 tie to give the Tigers a 23-15 lead.
Up nine points at halftime, the Tigers led by as many as 24 points late in the third as Ruggles kept his foot on the gas pedal in scoring 11 points in the third as Naperville Central (12-9, 2-3) couldn’t find an answer for the onslaught.
“I think we’re getting more comfortable playing together. Obviously when Will (Granberry) got that dunk (to give us a 47-26 lead in the third), that was big for everybody,” Ruggles said. “It helps when we have those fans coming to these games, these road games—it’s big. Just guys clicking and starting to understand how we play and what our roles are.”
After hitting four straight free throws late in the third, Ruggles had briefly outpaced the entire Redhawk team in points, 27 to 26.
With his team down 15 late in the third, Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer picked up a technical foul, for no other reason than to try to fire his team up.
But in light of the technical foul, the Tigers ended the third on a 9-2 run to take a 22-point lead into the fourth.
“We just can’t start a game like that and give a team like that a 10, 12-point lead and then all of a sudden, if you’re scrambling, you’re chasing. They’ve got five guys on the floor most of the time that can all shoot the ball,” Kramer said. “They’re capable of shooting the ball and they shot the ball (Friday) night.”
Matthew Meier and Nate Dahl led the Redhawks with 16 and 13 points, respectively.
