Waubonsie Valley catches up to Naperville Central
Dropping in 10 3-pointers was certainly a big factor in Waubonsie Valley's come-from-behind victory over Naperville Central, but hard work and heart around the glass was just as important.
Visiting Naperville Central jumped ahead 10-0 and led 14-4 after one quarter while looking for the upset Friday night in Aurora. But the Warriors kept attacking the boards and firing away from beyond the arc, and eventually they prevailed 59-48 in Friday's DuPage Valley Conference contest.
The biggest quarter for the winners was the third, a quarter in which Waubonsie Valley (8-1, 2-1) knocked down six 3s, including back-to-back shots from sophomore Ben Schwieger that put the home team ahead 36-32 with 2:56 left in the quarter for their first lead of the night.
As big as those baskets were, Warriors coach Jason Mead talked plenty about a big putback by Schwieger in the second quarter, as well as several rebounds by Marcus Skeete, who finished the night with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
"He was huge," Mead said of 6-foot-4 guard-forward Schwieger. "The 3s were awesome, but I think what got him going was that offensive rebound in the first half and that putback where he crashed the glass on the backside on a missed 3.
"And with Marcus, his biggest contribution for us is his willingness to go in and get gritty rebounds for us, especially on the offensive end. Those rebounds in the first half, when we weren't making shots, enabled us to kind of crawl our way back in."
After the slow start the Warriors trailed just 23-19 at the half as Skeete led the way with 8 points and 7 rebounds, 4 of which came on the offensive end. Schwieger's putback in the second quarter closed the gap to 21-16 and a 3-pointer from Derrien Porter helped the Warriors get even closer before the break. Porter, Eric Cannon and Nikhil Khanna all joined Skeete and Schwieger in draining 3s in the third quarter.
Skeete said this veteran team was not too concerned with Friday's first quarter. And it doesn't hurt to have Schwieger growing into his own in his first year on the varsity roster.
"It's a long game," Skeete said when asked if the 14-4 deficit was worrisome. "I told my team have heart. We came out and we talked and we said man up. Then everyone was hitting 3s. That was a fun (third) quarter. Ben's a sophomore. He's really young but he's getting confident. He's a really good player. Our team is really close and we're playing strong."
Schwieger said his teammates are helping with his development plenty.
"We learned our lesson in the Neuqua game," he said of Waubonsie's lone setback this year. "We just need to step it up physically. And coach got us pumped up coming out after halftime and that really helped us."
About those clutch 3s in the third quarter as the tide shifted, Schwieger said: "Yeah it felt really good. Just stepping up as a sophomore … These guys I'm playing with are really helping me out and keeping me on track."
For the Redhawks, Friday brought another defeat in what has been an out-of-character 1-9 start to the season, but they did show signs of promise. Chris Conway had 17 points and 5 boards, Samuel Jackson hit a couple early 3s to score 9 points all in the first half, and then Payton Thorne hit a pair of long-rang shots while tallying 10 points in the second half.
"I thought we played pretty well the whole game until they started hitting 3s," Redhawks coach Pete Kramer said. "The 3s and offensive rebounds, that was it. They just pounded us on the glass, and that was the difference."