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Shared effort, results lift Naperville Central past Deerfield

When you have experienced hands like Naperville Central's Matthew Meier and Harry Hallstrom leading the way, it's sometimes easy to overlook contributions made by the other Redhawks on the floor.

After their hard-fought 55-51 victory over Deerfield on Tuesday in the Wheeling Hardwood Classic quarterfinal, Redhawks coach Pete Kramer spread the praise to everyone who contributed.

And they'll have a chance to keep the momentum going in Wednesday's semifinal against Libertyville at 8:45 p.m.

Sure, Hallstrom led all scorers with 19 points and added 6 rebounds, and Meier was solid with 14 points, 3 assists and a steal, but the defense and perimeter play from Justin Jopes, Nick Kramer, James Kendrick, Brandon Baskin and Liam Heath was important in battling from behind and taking control in the fourth quarter.

"Our perimeter guys handled their traps," coach Kramer said. "They were keeping us out of the paint. We got a big 3 from Nick at the end of the third quarter."

That 3 gave Naperville Central a 37-34 lead, one it never relinquished despite a dogged trapping pressure defense applied by Deerfield (9-2).

Kendrick and Hallstrom each scored 6 points in the fourth quarter, and Meier was 4-of-4 from the foul line.

But when it seemed like the Redhawks were about to pull away, Deerfield's Jordan Baum would make one of his 5 3-pointers to keep the game close.

Kendrick hit 2 free throws with 1:17 left to give Central a 52-45 lead, but Baum hit a long 3 off the glass, and Alex Casieri followed that with a 3 of his own, and the lead was just 52-51 with 38 seconds left.

Meier made a pair of free throws at the :30.6 mark, and after two Deerfield misses from close range, Kendrick grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and made 1 of 2 to seal the game with 12.3 seconds left.

"We have a very tall team, with a 6-6 shooting guard and 6-7 center, so teams know they're going to have to shoot well against us," Hallstrom said. "We were able to knock down open shots at key times."

"This was a great team win," Kramer said. "Matthew and Harry are expect to carry us, but Jopes, Kramer, Kendrick handled their traps well."

"We stayed within ourselves and handled it," Meier said. "We knew if we did that, held the ball and knocked down our free throws, we'd be OK."

Deerfield led 13-10 after the first quarter and 25-23 at halftime, thanks to a long 3 by Baum with 2.1 seconds remaining.

Kendrick's 3-pointer tied the game at 34 with 3:12 left in the third quarter, and when Nick Kramer made his 3 with 2.6 seconds remaining, the Redhawks were on their way.

Kendrick scored 11 points for Central, Baskin 6 and Kramer 5. Baum led Deerfield with 16 points, and Jordan Sherman added 12.

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