advertisement

Naperville Central waits out Glenbard North

With the way Glenbard North came out firing in the first quarter, things were going to have to change a lot or else it would have been a long night for Naperville Central.

Fortunately for the visiting Redhawks, the final three quarters looked very little like the first as Naperville Central rebounded from a slow start to win 56-41 in DuPage Valley Conference action in Carol Stream.

The fast-starting Panthers made 8 of 11 shots from the floor in the opening quarter while jumping out to 21-13 lead. Guard Nick Lavere knocked down three 3-pointers in the opening quarter and Myles Moore also hit from beyond the arc as the hosts looked primed for an upset.

But Naperville Central's defense picked up its play and wound up limiting the Panthers (3-13, 0-6) to just 20 points over the final three quarters after the fast start. At the same time a balanced Redhawks attack started clicking from all over the floor as the game shifted in their favor.

"That (21-point first quarter) was talked about a little bit at halftime," Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said. "We were a little flat in the first quarter, which I don't understand. But I thought we did a great job the next three quarters."

While some of the Redhawks didn't get going strong until the second quarter, 6-foot-7 forward Harrison Hallstrom was solid from the opening tip. Harrison made all three of his field goals in the first quarter and added a pair of free throws to tally 8 of his team-leading 17 points to try and offset the hot-shooting Panthers early on.

"Getting the ball where I'm able to get one on one with a smaller guy is very nice and I'm able to get to the rim easier," said Hallstrom, who also pulled in 7 rebounds. "My teammates were able to get me the ball and the jump shot was falling for me, which was very helpful as well as us getting boards and getting to the free-throw as well."

Matt Meier, who had just 3 points in the first half, scored 10 in the second half as Naperville Central (13-10, 3-3) got back on track and took over the game. Nate Dahl added 9 points on the night and Alex Pomeroy gave the team a big boost with 8 points off the bench.

"It was very nice coming back," Hallstrom said. "We started off slow in the first. Our man (defense) just wasn't there for us at the start. We were getting out slow on shooters and they had a hot first quarter, scoring 21 points. But we were able to bounce back coming into halftime and going over our plays. We came out stronger and were able to put this game away."

For Glenbard North, Lavere finished with five 3s on his way to 17 points and Sam Ledbetter also accounted for two of the team's eight 3-pointers. But after the great first quarter, the Panthers just couldn't get enough shots to fall.

"The kids played really hard I thought. They played hard and played with a lot of effort," Glenbard North coach Joe Larson said. "We made some big buckets there in the first quarter and the first half. Then I thought (the Redhawks) did a nice job defensively. They tightened up more, especially in the third quarter. And we only scored four points in the second quarter, but I thought we were still getting pretty good looks in that quarter."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.