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player ready...As grim as things looked late in the fourth quarter of Naperville Central’s DuPage Valley game at Wheaton North, the Redhawks still had a shot at tying the game at the buzzer.
However, Manny Rugamba’s rushed three-point attempt was defended well and went off target, earning the Falcons a hard-fought 42-39 victory.
“I tried to get it (the ball) off the floor and a square shot at the basket,” Rugamba said. “But with time going down I had to go off balance. I did my best to get it up on the glass and it almost fell.”
Things appeared awfully bleak for Naperville Central (14-11, 4-4), trailing 41-33 with only 2:42 remaining.
Nonetheless, back-to-back baskets by Matt Meier and then a baseline jumper from Nate Dahl got the Redhawks within 41-39 with 1:13 to go.
“Even when we go down seven or eight points with two minutes left, we don’t quit,” Rugamba said. “We feel we’ve been in every game this season so we’re battle-tested for these situations.”
Wheaton North (18-4, 6-2) made it 42-39 with 8.8 seconds left, but Nick Traversa missed his second free throw attempt to give the Redhawks one final shot.
It certainly didn’t appear as if the game was headed down to the wire after the Redhawks closed the first quarter on a 15-2 burst to take a 19-6 lead.
“The first quarter was picture perfect and that was our game plan, to spread the floor and take what they give you and knock down shots,” Redhawks coach Pete Kramer said. “Then in the second quarter we just kind of lost the momentum. Going into halftime we were up four, but it didn’t feel like we were up four.”
It felt that way because Central was shut out 9-0 in the second quarter.
“I knew we’d scrap and claw and get back into the game, but I didn’t expect us to have a zero-point second quarter,” Falcons coach Dave Brackmann said. “That was huge for us to go into halftime feeling OK about ourselves despite making a lot of mistakes.”
Naperville Central’s Harry Hallstrom, a 6-foot-7 center, battled foul trouble all game. With Hallstrom spending considerable time on the bench, the Redhawks struggled to spread the floor in the half court.
“When he’s not on the floor it makes it hard to space the floor for me and Nate (Dahl),” Meier said. “That made it tough for us.”
Hallstrom had 18 points the last time the two teams played to lead the Redhawks to a 47-43 win..
“He just never got into a real good flow of the game to get in any rhythm,” Kramer said. “But I thought the kids battled, and it didn’t look real good for us with two minutes left in the game.”
Meier led the Redhawks with 17 points and Dahl had 11 points. Rugamba collected seven rebounds and Hallstrom had four blocks.
Nick Jordan paced the Falcons with 13 points.
Chris R. Walker is a freelance writer.