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George, Neuqua Valley get out and run to victory

Demond George was only doing what Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton told him.

Cracking a defensive tussle against Providence, the Wildcats senior point guard keyed a 13-2 run for a momentum swing Neuqua rode to a 45-36 win in Tuesday's Class 4A Bolingbrook sectional semifinal.

"We were trying to run half-court sets and obviously the sets weren't working very well," George said of a game Neuqua trailed 28-24 after three quarters.

"I think we were 2-for-12 (shooting) in the third quarter and (Sutton) just said, 'Get out and run.' He said, 'Demond, make some plays. So that's what I tried to do.'"

The whole sequence - which has No. 1 seed Neuqua Valley (27-4) playing in Friday's sectional final against Wednesday's winner between Bolingbrook and Plainfield East - started with the Wildcats' Connor Raridon taking a charge on Providence's first fourth-quarter possession.

That, too, was by design.

"It was all about stops," Sutton said. "It wasn't about shooting the ball. We finally got some stops. We got stops by taking charges and we owned the defensive boards second half."

George made two free throws, answered by a Jake Rost basket for a 30-26 Providence lead.

George then hit two straight 3-pointers and, after the Celtics' Nate Vejvoda scored, assisted on Zach Lendino's inside banker.

"I hit the first one, it felt good," said George, who scored a game-high 14 points. "Then he called a play for me again, he said, 'If they go under (the screen) you bury it.' So I took the shot and it just felt good off the release, I knew it was going in."

Guarded tough by Notre Dame football recruit Miles Boykin, Raridon finally hit his own 3-pointer from the left wing. Two Providence misses later Lendino took another charge, then scored to give Neuqua a 39-32 lead with 3:07 left to play.

"Taking a charge, getting the momentum going is a huge part of the game," Lendino said.

No. 4 seed Providence (21-10) managed a free throw and a late 3-pointer the rest of the way.

"I thought our defensive effort was pretty darn good, but their defensive effort was obviously just a little bit better today," said Celtics coach Tim Trendel, who sought more from Providence's third sectional appearance in four years.

Held to 24 points through three quarters and 11 total points in the second and third quarters, Neuqua Valley outscored Providence 21-8 in the fourth.

"Defense won that game, and rebounding," said Boykin, who led the Celtics with 8 points. "I thought they outfought us for loose balls and they got rebounds. I mean, that's a winning game."

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