Deng, Wheaton North dunk Metea Valley
After foul trouble kept him on the bench for the majority of the first half, Wheaton North junior Deng Reng could do no wrong in the final two quarters against DuPage Valley Conference rival Metea Valley on Friday night.
Reng scored 13 second-half points, helped lead his team to a 56-55 win, threw down a thunderous dunk in the face of an overmatched defender and even won first place in a raffle the team held at the end of the third quarter. The grand prize? An iPad that could come in handy to watch the incredible aforementioned slam.
With 4:30 remaining Reng scored a three-point play to give the Falcons a 49-40 lead. However, the Mustangs (3-5, 1-4) responded to cut the lead back to 6, setting the stage for the highlight of the evening.
Reng got out in transition and caught the pass on the right wing with just one defender between himself and the basket. Rather than go around or settle for a pullup, he attacked the rim and took off from just outside the painted area to send down an authoritative dunk over the leaping defender.
"It was a great feeling. I've been making promises to a few guys that I'd do it, so it feels good," Reng said.
"He's got the kind of athleticism that I haven't got to coach very often," Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann added. "Usually the rims at Wheaton North don't get tested quite like that, but he was disappointed with his first half.
"So to come out in the second half and get us going a little bit and make some free throws and make an impact on the game was big for him."
Reng's highwire act aside, offense was tough to come by for the Falcons most of the night with the Metea Valley defense holding them to 33 percent shooting in the first half. However, Wheaton North (3-5, 2-3) supplemented its scoring by making 23 of 29 from the line.
Senior forward Josh Sorenson hit 12 of 14 attempts from the free-throw line on his way to a game-high 16 points, including an impressive driving dunk of his own. Metea Valley was led by 14 points each from junior guard Ethan Helwig and senior guard Cory Adams.
After the Reng dunk Metea Valley used a timeout to regain their composure and made one final charge at the lead by going on a 9-3 run and cutting the lead to 2 on a putback by junior guard Veonte Ballard. However, some clutch free throws by Wheaton North junior guard Jacob Schauer helped extend the lead back to 4.
A buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Helwig would make the final score look close, but it was a game where the Falcons kept Metea Valley at arm's length from the first quarter on. And that should provide needed confidence as Wheaton North gets into the meat of conference play.
"All those real tough teams we lost to, we were right there," Brackmann said. "We made a lot of mistakes, but we did a lot of good things tonight so it's nice to learn a lot and get into the win column again."