Analysis: Win Over North Exactly What Redhawks Needed

Things haven’t been going all that great for Naperville Central’s boys basketball team this season.

Coming into Friday’s cross-town showdown with Naperville North, the Redhawks had lost four of their last five games overall, dropped their last four DuPage Valley Conference games and learned Thursday that they earned the No. 19 seed in the 21-team Class 4A East Aurora Sectional.

But for one night at least, the Redhawks showed their fans and coach Pete Kramer that they’re still hungry.

Central picked up arguably its biggest win of the season, 51-42, against a Naperville North team that earned a No. 9 seed in that same sectional.

“We really needed that,” Kramer said. “That was a big win for us. I told them tonight how proud I am of them. We’ve got the kids on the bench still getting excited, still focused and competing.

"We’ve been through a lot. It says a lot about the kids and what kind of kids they are. As their coach, I’m just thrilled that we’re still battling.”

Aside from an early win over Fremd and a nice DVC win over Wheaton North; the majority of Central’s wins this season have come against fellow members of the under-.500 club. But the Redhawks never trailed after taking a 6-5 lead on Ian Lewandowski's three-pointer in the first quarter.

Several times this season Central has been near the lead early in the fourth quarter only to see it evaporate. Central senior David Niggins made sure that didn’t happen again. When North cut the lead to 28-27 late in the third, Niggins scored 12 of Central’s next 14 points to ensure the Huskies got no closer.

“We played really tough,” Niggins said. “Our motto is finishing the game, and that’s what we did. We played from the first quarter to the fourth quarter, tough basketball. We played really well, all of us.”

Kramer said that despite the team’s struggles, he has not seen his team’s morale dip whatsoever. He was proved right with Friday night’s effort.

“They’ve been great all year,” Kramer said. “They haven’t changed their demeanor in practice. They’ll be the first ones to admit that they’re not the most talented group but they’re going to battle. I thought we played inspired basketball.”

And the icing on the cake is that it evens the season series with North.

“That makes it a lot better,” Niggins said. “Beating your rival school, nothing better than that.”