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WW South plays like it practices

Wheaton Warrenville South coach Mike Healy talked at length about his team's efforts in practice and how they needed to do a better job of translating that effort to games.

The Tigers heard the message loud and clear Friday night en route to a 44-39 victory over visiting Glenbard North, earning them their first DuPage Valley Conference win of the season.

"It was the best effort we've had both physically and mentally," Healy said of Friday night's win. "We had a tough meeting on Monday. I keep telling them that you play really hard in practice. Show people how hard you play and show people all the things you do. We've still got a ways to go before we're a finished product, but every single one of them played really hard tonight."

Senior guard Josh Ruggles agreed with his coach's assessment.

"It was our best week of practice," Ruggles said. "We talked about diving on the floor, taking charges and making effort plays. We didn't do anything exceptionally well tonight, but we gave a great effort the whole game. It was a grit win for us."

Wheaton Warrenville South (6-8, 1-3) held the lead for much of the game with only one tie early in the second quarter.

Glenbard North's Chamar Flanigan's bucket in the paint tied the game 11-11, but a fastbreak layup by Wheaton Warrenville South's Austin Polezoes put the Tigers up 13-11 and they led the rest of the way.

Holding a 3-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter, Ruggles put some distance between the two teams with back-to-back scores, one on a fadeaway jumper along the baseline, followed by a field goal near the top of the key to put the Tigers up 36-29.

A pair of free throws by Ruggles with 4:38 left put his team up 40-33, but the Panthers (3-10, 0-4) made their next six attempts from the free-throw line, including 4 of 4 from Michael Matkovic, cutting the Wheaton Warrenville South lead to 40-39.

Ruggles, however, connected on a pair of free throws with 26.2 seconds left, and then Glenbard North was called for traveling.

Ruggles put the game away with two more free throws with 12 seconds left for the game's final score.

"We came back from seven and cut it to one, but you've got to give (Wheaton Warrenville South) credit," Glenbard North coach Joe Larson said. "They made some free throws down the stretch that were big and we missed seven free throws tonight and that didn't help us.

"We've got a tough game tomorrow against Hinsdale Central. Sometimes with a loss like this, it's good to get back out there the next day. We're looking forward to playing tomorrow and competing."

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