Neuqua Valley puts defense first vs. Naperville Central
As it turns out, it's not only in the alphabet that "D" comes before "O."
According to Neuqua Valley senior point guard Sentwali Nalls, it was the Wildcats' commitment to playing airtight defense that was the catalyst for one of the team's best offensive performances of the season. It came in a 59-35 DuPage Valley Conference defeat of visiting Naperville Central on Friday night.
"It was defense first, because when we play defense the other team struggles on offense and thinks about that," said Nalls, who finished with 10 points and 8 assists on the night. "Then Coach (Todd Sutton) just tells us to concentrate, run our offense, look for good shots and hopefully hit them."
The Wildcats (10-14, 2-4) didn't have much need for "hope" on offense. They were on fire from their first shot, which happened to be a John Poulakidas 3-pointer 24 seconds into the game. In the opening half, which ended with Neuqua holding a 38-19 advantage, the Wildcats made 16 of 28 shots from the field with Poulakidas, Nalls and Patrick Hoffman combining to go 4 for 7 from 3-point range.
Connor Davis and Justin Blazek chipped in with 6 and 5 points, respectively, while Nonso Obguefi came off the bench to add a pair of buckets.
The Redhawks (7-16, 2-5) had no answers in a half that saw them blitzed by a 13-0 first-quarter run and an 11-0 streak late in the opening half by the Wildcats.
"Just about everything did not go our way tonight," said Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer. "From putting the ball on the floor, making passes, making layups, making open shots, boxing out - nothing went right. It all really started on our defensive end. We let them get off early and never recovered."
The Wildcats had two clear defensive focal points for the game as Naperville Central's Cam Dougherty and Chris Conway had combined for 45 points in a 56-49 defeat of Neuqua in December. On Friday that duo was held to a combined 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting, with Conway limited to 3 field-goal attempts.
"We told ourselves that we couldn't let them beat us again tonight," Poulakidas said. "We really focused on them, wanted to shut them down and knew if we did we'd get a win in our last home game."
Neuqua's defense was so effective that Dougherty and Sam Jackson were the only two Redhawks to score in the game's first 15 minutes before Payton Thorne hit a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left in the half. That bucket was answered by a Hoffman layup before Neuqua got 3-pointers from Nalls, Davis and Hoffman in the first two minutes of the third quarter for a 47-21 lead that was never seriously threatened.
"Coach always tells us, get over the hill. We'd been coming up short, but we keep trying to get over that hill and I think big things are coming our way," said Nalls, who had an eye on the upcoming postseason.