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Naperville Central victory a milestone for Kramer

Like the inevitability of the sun rising in the morning, Naperville Central boys basketball coach Pete Kramer knew visiting Wheaton North would make a run at his squad before Friday night's DuPage Valley Conference battle reached a conclusion.

Kramer's premonition came true, but after the Falcons had trimmed a deficit as large as 14 points to 2, Kramer could rejoice in the poised play his young team showed down the stretch in a 47-43 victory.

It was Kramer's 200th victory as Redhawks coach.

"I knew they would make a run, but I thought our execution was excellent," Kramer said. "Our decision-making was awesome and our defense was really good."

Kramer singled out his guard trio of Emanuel Rugamba, Matthew Meier and Nate Dahl for praise as they shared ballhandling duties down the stretch, while Dahl, who may be 6-feet tall on his tippy-toes, grabbed two huge defensive rebounds (and had a game-high 8) in the final seconds to help keep the Falcons at bay.

"Dahl and Meier did a great job of taking care of the ball, and Manny had a couple big steals," Kramer said. "Dahl is one of the smaller guys on the team, but we talk about effort and he shows it."

While Naperville Central (8-4, 2-2) came out strong from the start, leading 16-7 after one quarter and 27-13 at the half, Wheaton North (5-2, 2-1) played like it had missed a wakeup call.

"That's been our problem the last two games," Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann said. "We did not come out with the same intensity as they did, and it took until our backs were to the wall to start playing like it was the opening tip. They came out hard and we let them do what they wanted offensively; their first-half shot chart was all in the paint."

The main beneficiary of that lax defending was Naperville Central's Harry Hallstrom, who had 10 points in the first half on the way to a game-high 18 in what Kramer called his best performance of the season. Meier, Dahl and Brandon Baskin also had easy looks as the Redhawks made 10 of 18 shots in the half.

The Falcons, meanwhile, converted just 4 of 17 field-goal attempts through two quarters, though they did begin to show signs of life in the third quarter. Nick Jordan and Nick Traversa each hit a 3-pointer as Wheaton North opened the second half with an 8-2 run that made it 29-21. Naperville Central kept the visitors at arm's length, however, and led 38-24 after three quarters thanks to Rugamba's driving layup and steal and bucket in the final minute.

The Naperville Central lead looked safe at 43-30 with five minutes to play when Wheaton North's Luke Anthony caught fire with a 3-pointer among his 7 points, while Kar Reng added 2 buckets, including a putback that made it 45-43 with 49 seconds to play. That's when Meier and Dahl stepped up with free throws and Dahl grabbed his two clinching rebounds.

"We're trying to get better every game," Kramer said. "This is a nice step forward and a big win in conference. We're growing as we're playing."

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