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Skeete takes a step back to score winner for Waubonsie Valley

After hitting a late shot to defeat Oswego East on Tuesday, the question was what Marcus Skeete could do for an encore.

Turns out the answer was make an even tougher game-winner.

With the ball in his hands after Waubonsie Valley kept possession for over a minute, Skeete banked in a step-back 3-pointer as time expired to lead the home team to a 35-32 DuPage Valley Conference win over Naperville Central on Senior Night.

"I was trying to get closer to the basket," said Skeete, who made a free-throw line jumper against Oswego East. "But I saw (Chris) Conway come up so I zigged out and turned and shot it and it went in. I got the shot off right at the end and it fell."

That put the finishing touches on a staunch defensive battle, which came with second place in the league on the line. It was also a great primer for the upcoming postseason, with each team garnering a No. 3 seed in their respective sectionals.

"It was a physical game," Waubonsie Valley coach Jason Mead said. "It was hard to get anything near the rim, especially for us. I guess we made just enough plays to win. They are very tough, they have a lot of size.

"Marcus has made shots like that before. He had three guys on him and shoots a step-back 3 and it went off the glass. It's one of those things where you are happy you've got Marcus on your team. He does things like that."

Skeete added 6 rebounds and Carter Langendorf had 5 points. The Warriors (26-4, 6-3) played their fifth straight game without second leading scorer Ben Schwieger and won their fourth in a row after losing to Neuqua Valley at the buzzer on Feb. 7.

The Redhawks, winners of four out of five coming in, had only three players score, topped by the 18 points from Conway. The 6-foot-10 senior also totaled 8 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.

Kyle Baskin scored 8 points and Cam Dougherty had 6 for the visitors, who jumped out to a 13-5 lead after the opening eight minutes. A 14-4 spurt by Waubonsie Valley made it 19-17 at halftime and the Warriors carried that advantage into the fourth quarter.

Naperville Central then took its last lead on a three-point play by Baskin, who later made a pair of free throw with 1:29 left to knot the score at 32.

"I thought we played great defense all night," said Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer, whose team lost 73-44 to Waubonsie Valley on Jan. 10. "We knew exactly what we wanted to do and we came in here and we did that. We wanted to defend and rebound and keep the game close until the end.

"I'm extremely proud of our kids. The last time they played us, they beat us by 30-some points. We are a much better team now, and they've shown that we can play with anybody."

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