Evans rallies Neuqua past Redhawks

March 13, 2009 BY PATRICK Z. MCGAVIN

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Summer teammates on the club team circuit, Neuqua Valley junior forward Dwayne Evans and Naperville Central senior guard Drew Crawford have direct knowledge of each other’s exceptional gifts.

At the Class 4A sectional championship at Oswego East Friday night, the two demonstrated their abilities before a standing-room-only crowd of 2,458.

Evans’ 30 points, 17 rebounds and two blocked shots helped the No. 8 Wildcats overcome a 10-point third-quarter deficit and outlast the No. 18 Redhawks 62-55.

In capturing their second straight sectional title, the Wildcats advance to play Dundee-Crown in the NIU supersectional Tuesday.

Crawford scored 30 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked a shot before fouling out in the final minute. He scored 17 points in the game’s opening 10:22. His 19 first-half points put the Redhawks (27-3) up 33-26 at the break.

Evans scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, 22 in the second half.

“Drew was amazing in the first half,” Evans said. “We couldn’t stop him and our defense was a little lackadaisical. “In the second half, we played much better help defense. That and the pressure really changed things for us.”

Neuqua Valley (31-1) trailed 47-41 entering the fourth quarter. Evans’ steal and dunk sparked an 11-4 run that gave the Wildcats their first lead since 7-5.

“I always get pumped up when I get a steal,” Evans said.

Crawford scored his final points on a beautiful baseline jumper that gave the Redhawks their final advantage at 55-54.

Neuqua Valley senior forward Derek Raridon (eight points) hit the go-ahead basket, a three-pointer from the deep right wing with just under two minutes to play, that put the Wildcats up 57-55.

“I hadn’t been shooting well up until then, but the coach [Todd Sutton] designed a special play, so that gave me a lot of confidence to take the shot,” Raridon said.

Junior guard Rahjan Muhammad contributed 14 points for the Wildcats. Senior guard Nick Linne added 13 points for the Redhawks.