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Glenbard North gets back to defense at Naperville Central

Playing solid defense paid off again Friday night for Glenbard North when it won its DuPage Valley Conference boys basketball opener at Naperville Central 63-45.

"Team defense is the reason why we are 4-1. I thought we played good defense in the three games we needed to win the Glenbard Thanksgiving tournament," said Panthers coach Joe Larson. "We didn't play good defense against Lyons Township, but tonight we got back to it. The guys worked hard defensively all over the floor."

The Panthers led 14-9 after the first quarter with the help of 5-of-11 shooting from the field and 6 turnovers from the Redhawks. With 3:30 left until halftime, a basket by Myles Moore, who scored a game-high 17 points, put his team up by 10 for the first time in the game. The Redhawks finished the quarter on a 9-3 scoring spurt, ending with Ben Wolf's jumpshot to pull Naperville Central to within 4 at halftime.

"We got into a groove and were running things well in the second quarter," said Wolf, who led the Redhawks with 14. Teammate Noah Swope followed with 13.

A 14-6 run by Glenbard North to start the third quarter put space between the Panthers and the Redhawks, 39-27, and the team stayed in control the rest of the contest.

"We slowed it down in the third quarter. We rushed a lot of shots in the second quarter. We played our offense and got some good lucks," said Glenbard North junior Greg Newsome, who finished with 16 points. Kibet Chepyator was the other Panther with double-digit points at 14.

Larson said that type of balanced scoring is crucial if the Panthers are to build upon their early success.

"If we are to be a good team, we need to have balanced scoring. It was great seeing them look for each other," he said.

Newsome added two free throws midway through the final quarter to put the Panthers up 57-37, their first 20-point lead of the evening.

Naperville Central (2-3, 0-1) is right back in action Saturday with a nonconference home game against Glenbard West.

"We are not going to win too many games with 17 turnovers," said Redhawks coach Pete Kramer. "We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball and rebounding. Out of our three losses, two have come from not taking care of the ball."

Kramer stressed that the season remains in its early stages, but certain things have to happen for the Redhawks to be successful.

"We have to have the eight, nine, 10 players that play ready to play and they were not ready to play tonight. But it's early and we're young and we have one starter back from a year ago," Kramer said.

Images: Naperville Central vs. Glenbard North boys basketball

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