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Naperville Central ousts Bartlett

After breaking his nose in the regular-season finale, Naperville Central senior boys basketball player Matt Murphy played wearing a face guard for the first time in Tuesday's Class 4A Naperville Central regional semifinals.

"It's a little harder," Murphy said. "My peripheral vision is a little more blinded, but other than that it's fine."

The Redhawks' focus as a team, however, remains clear after defeating Bartlett 53-39.

If Naperville Central (21-10), the No. 3 seed in the Addison Trail sectional, defeats No. 11 Naperville North for the third time this season in Friday's 7 p.m. regional final, the result will be the Redhawks' first regional championship since 2009.

And also a great memory for a senior-heavy roster in its final home game.

"Ever since we learned we were going to get a regional (at home), we all had in our minds we want to get to the regional final. We want to win that game," said 6-foot-10 senior and Oakland University recruit Chris Conway, who had 23 points with two 3-pointers.

"We have a lot of seniors with a lot of experience and none of them want to lose. I feel like all of us are kind of on the same mindset that we needed to get this one. It's been a while."

Naperville Central senior Cam Dougherty, who had 15 points, and Murphy also had two 3s. Junior Kyle Baskin, the lone non-senior starter, added 7 points with 4 steals.

No. 15 Bartlett (10-20) was led by 6-10 sophomore Conrad Luczynski's 11 points and 7 rebounds. Junior Hayden Angell added 9 points and juniors Clark Lewis and Nick Kantzavelos 6 points each on two 3s apiece.

The Redhawks went ahead by as many as 16 points beginning three minutes into the third quarter, but the Hawks scored the last 5 points of the period. A Kantzavelos 3 on their first possession of the fourth quarter closed the gap to 43-35.

But Bartlett did not score its next six possessions. The Redhawks eventually pulled away by pairs of free throws from Conway, Dougherty and James Jopes.

"I thought we finished the game strong. It could have been a 4- or 6-point game. We made it a 14-point game because I thought we responded after they kind of made their run," Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said. "It's a new season for everybody (in the playoffs). The first one's the toughest. I thought defensively we mixed up our defenses and offensively, we executed enough."

Murphy helped the Redhawks' fourth-quarter defense. His hustle back affected an unsuccessful fast-break shot and he came up with a steal off a deflected high inbounds pass.

Naperville Central earlier kept Bartlett without a field goal the first 3:48 of the third quarter during a 10-1 run to pull ahead 35-19.

"One thing we did exceptionally well was when they went on their runs, we never let it get down to 6 or 4," Murphy said. "I do think our defense won this game because we went on cold streaks but the thing is we would also be stopping them."

Angell opened Bartlett's scoring with three consecutive layups off great passes before the Redhawks implemented zone defenses. Lucas followed with two 3s, but Conway's late 3 put the Redhawks ahead 16-14 after one quarter.

Luczynski had two baskets in the second quarter, but the Hawks missed their other 11 shots yet only trailed 24-18 at halftime.

"The third quarter was the difference in the game (after) I thought we played a good first half on their floor," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "A real credit to Conway, who I thought played a real masterful game. Inside he's always tough, but I thought (Luczynski) handled him around the basket. The difference was the shots he knocked down around the perimeter."

Conway's second 3-pointer 30 seconds into the third quarter started his 10-point period and he later had a three-point play. His dunk with 2:11 left opened a 47-37 lead.

"From last year to this year, he's like a totally different player. He's really worked on his game," Kramer said.

"I definitely credit a lot of that to Coach Kramer and my teammates for having a lot of confidence in me. I feel like over time the confidence is the big thing that's really progressed," Conway said.

The Hawks started no seniors and only lose two. They lost 10 games by 4 points or fewer.

"Literally we were 15 possessions from having an 18-win season," Wolfsmith said. "Hopefully they take the lessons from the teams we played, what we need to do to get better, how we need to be more consistent, not let teams go on runs like they did in the third quarter."

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