Waubonsie Valley pulls away from Naperville Central

The third quarter had its fair share of peculiarities Friday night in Aurora.

Naperville Central junior Jonah Hinton hit three consecutive 3-pointers in the Redhawks' DuPage Valley Conference game against Waubonsie Valley.

But it was soon a forgotten memory as the Redhawks fired nothing but blanks for their other 11 field-goal attempts the rest of the third.

Waubonsie Valley ended matters with the final 10 points of the quarter as the game soon approximated the familiar refrains of the first half.

The Warriors coasted to a 55-38 victory on their Senior Night.

Ben Schwieger is the Warriors' most notable senior; the Loyola-bound forward scored a game-high 18 points while dominating the defensive interior with 4 highlight-reel blocks.

"I'm glad we got the lead early so we could get a lot guys some time," said Schwieger. "My defense was solid."

"The Redhawks aren't going to miss him, but we wish him the best," Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said of Schwieger. "He understands the game and plays it the right way."

Naperville Central (2-5, 1-4) tasted its only lead when Hinton converted the third field goal of the first quarter.

The Warriors (7-2, 4-1) responded with six 3-pointers in scoring 32 of the next 46 points in seizing a 34-18 lead at the break.

Schwieger had 12 of his game-high total in the first two quarters; the Warriors' Justin Starks, Isaiah Smith, Adri Malushi and Tyler Helbring all complemented their senior leader in fine fashion as well.

The Warriors' balanced attack made amends for an admittedly suspect offensive start to the game.

"We definitely came out a little lethargic," Schwieger said.

"I thought we brought energy in the second quarter," said Waubonsie Valley coach Jason Mead, who announced earlier this week he would be stepping down at the conclusion of the season.

Naperville Central appeared to be back in business, however, when Hinton went on his personal 9-point team run to start the third.

"My teammates just found me, and I was kind of hot the whole game," Hinton said.

"It was as if the scouting report went in one ear out the other," Mead said.

But conventional field-goal shooting was disastrous for the Redhawks for the remainder of the half.

Hinton, who finished with a team-best 16 points, and Kyle Baskin had the Redhawks' only 2-point buckets after halftime.

Naperville Central finished 9-for-30 inside the 3-line.

"I thought we brought our focus," Kramer said. "We just didn't finish around the basket. We missed layups."

Smith and Starks finished with 9 points each for Waubonsie Valley.

Mantas Zilys hit two 3-pointers in joining Hinton in double figures for Naperville Central with 10 points