It’s been a refrain Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer has had little choice to utter much of the season.
Lacking the inconsistency of getting enough scoring from different sources, Naperville Central came into the postseason looking to find any way to stop its 3-5 slide to end the regular season.
Opening the state tournament opposite seventh-seeded York on Tuesday night in a Class 4A Glenbard West Regional Semifinal, the 10th-seeded Redhawks dealt with more of the same as the Dukes controlled play much of the night en route to pulling away for a 49-33 victory.
Not being able to answer a pair of York runs—one to end the first half and one to start the second half—and an inability to consistently knock down any shots doomed the Redhawks’ chances of getting the right to compete for their first regional title since 2009 on Friday.
“I just think it’s a combination of not playing your best basketball at the end of the year … as a coach, you always want to do that. That’s your goal. But this year, we were playing our best basketball about the middle of the year,” Kramer said. “I think we peaked early and with a young group, that happens at times. We fought through some (adversity), we lost some tough games and it’s tough to keep coming back.”
The Dukes ended the first half on a 12-4 run to turn a 12-9 Redhawks’ lead into a 21-16 Dukes’ lead as six different players accounted for the scoring during the run.
After Harrison Hallstrom opened up the second half with his only basket of the game to get Naperville Central (15-14) within three points at 21-18, York countered by going on a 11-0 run to take a 14-point lead with just over a minute to play in the third.
Junior guard Emmanuel Rugamba, aided by four triples, was the only Redhawk who was able to get anything done consistently on the offensive end as his 14 points led the way for the Redhawks.
Rugamba had back-to-back triples late in the third to help bring Naperville Central to within 10 points going into the fourth.
A triple from Nate Dahl, who finished with eight points, to start the fourth got the Redhawks within seven points of the Dukes at 34-27 but the Dukes outscored them, 15-6, to finish out the game and get a rematch with Benet on Friday.
“Give (York) credit. I thought they played a good defensive game. We just had trouble putting the ball in the basket,” Kramer said.
Jayvon Thomas had a game-high 18 points for York, which was able to put the clamps down on Dahl, Matthew Meier and Hallstrom.
The Redhawks’ junior duo of Meier and Hallstrom combined for just five points
“I mean, we’re not going to win any games with those two (struggling).. They only had five points? I didn’t realize that,” Kramer said. “I mean, we’re not going to win any games when that happens.”
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