Naperville Central point guard Simon Krugliakovas missed his first free-throw attempt. He bricked his second attempt too.
But Krugliakovas wasn’t worried.
“I knew how I missed them,” he said. “I shot it off the back rim, and I have to aim for the front rim.”
Krugliakovas did that with metronomic efficiency. The 5-foot-10, 150-pound senior made his final 20 attempts from the line Tuesday, with the last two capping the scoring in the Redhawks’ wild 96-88 nonconference victory against visiting Glenbard East.
It was all part of a tremendous effort by Krugliakovas, who scored a career-high 40 points, including four 3-pointers, and dished five assists in a ragged game the likes of which the players and coaches had never before seen.
Naperville Central junior center Jack First, who had 13 points and a career-high 19 rebounds, was amazed, although not totally shocked, by Krugliakovas’ performance.
“That was awesome,” First said. “I don’t know if I’ve seen someone hit 20 free throws in a row over multiple games. It gives us a lot of confidence as a team that we know Simon can go out there and knock down free throws. Our whole team did a pretty good job at the line overall.”
Indeed, the Redhawks (3-2) made 43 of 55 foul shots in a game that included 95 free-throw attempts. Eight players scored in double figures, and six players fouled out as the clock never ran for long.
“I’ve never coached in a game that crazy where neither team could stop each other,” Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said.
Nobody could stop Krugliakovas, who scored 24 points in the first half to give the Redhawks a 44-36 lead.
“Simon is so capable of doing so many different things, and he’s so valuable for us,” Kramer said. “The biggest compliment you can give a player is he makes his teammates better, and that’s what he does. That’s a special trait.”
Krugliakovas was special at the foul line. He scored all 16 of his second-half points from the line, including eight after Glenbard East (0-3) had pulled within 86-85 with 1:33 left.
The Redhawks sank their final 23 attempts despite the physicality of the game.
“In practice, we always do free throws when we’re tired, so I feel like I just put that into the game,” Krugliakovas said. “And the confidence is just from the teammates too. They give me the ball because they know I’ll make them. I’m that confident. I was feeling good with the free throws, so I just kept shooting them.”
Krugliakovas, who was Naperville Central’s sixth man last season, is the most experienced player on a young team that likely will battle inconsistency in the early going. The first-year starter began the season by scoring 28 points in a 58-51 loss to Maine East and is averaging 22.8 points.
“He’s just so crafty with the ball,” Kramer said. “He can score a lot of different ways. He can score off the dribble. He’s a very good 3-point shooter, and he can finish in the paint.”
First said the Redhawks knew Krugliakovas was going to be their leader this season. Krugliakovas has taken that responsibility on his slender shoulders and embraced it.
But nobody expects Krugliakovas to score 40 every game. The Redhawks hope to develop other capable scorers. First, Ivan Najdovski and Grady Cooperkawa each had 13 points against Glenbard East.
“I don’t have to score every game because First and Ross (DeZur) are good in the paint, and then Grady we have in the corner who can knock down 3s,” Krugliakovas said. “So I won’t need to be doing that all the time. I just want to win.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.