Nobody unbeaten in DVC play anymore
Wheaton Warrenville South's boys basketball team threw the latest wrench into the DuPage Valley Conference standings.
The wrench flew to no one's surprise.
The conference season continued its rocky start on Friday with the Tigers' 53-50 victory at Naperville Central.
Only five games into DVC play, no unbeaten teams remain. The Redhawks, the last unbeaten standing, Naperville North and Lake Park all have one league loss.
"We stuck with it and kept grinding and battled," said Tigers guard Jeran Simpson. "It's a huge win since they were undefeated and the conference is really tough this year. Every win is going to be hard."
WW South (9-4, 3-2) trailed by 10 points after Naperville Central (9-5, 4-1) opened the second half with 9 straight points. The Tigers stormed back with their own run but still found themselves behind 50-48 after a pair of free throws by the Redhawks' Nick Kramer with 3:59 left in the game.
The Tigers responded by holding Naperville Central scoreless the rest of the game.
"We just struggled hitting shots late," said Redhawks wing Matthew Meier. "That's what happens in basketball. We just didn't finish the game."
WW South scored the game's final 5 points in grueling fashion. Eric Rasch scored to tie the game at 50 apiece, then Ryan Scudder added a basket to give the Tigers a 52-50 advantage with just more than two minutes to play - their first lead of the second half.
After the Redhawks missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Scudder split a pair of free throws to boost WW South's lead to 53-50 with 1:04 left. The teams exchanged possessions featuring missed shots and turnovers, and finally a pair of missed free throws by the Tigers with 2.5 seconds left.
With one last chance to send the game to overtime with a 3-pointer, Naperville Central couldn't get a decent look at the basket and a desperation shot went off the mark to seal the Tigers' victory.
"This group is a real good group," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "We went down 10 but they just didn't go away. They just keep playing and plugging away."
Kramer knocked down five first-half 3-pointers while scoring a game-high 21 points for Naperville Central. Simpson scored 6 of his team-high 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Scudder had 15 points and Rasch 12 for the Tigers. Meier tallied 12.
"It's going to be like this every night," said Redhawks coach Pete Kramer. "I told the kids you can't expect to go undefeated in a conference like this."
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