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Boys Basketball: WW South downs Naperville Central
| Corey R. Minkanic~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 3, 2012 11:11PM
Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer readily admits his young team tends to go as far as 6-foot-8 sophomore center Nick Czarnowski takes it.
But Kramer also realizes he can’t rely on his young center to do everything.
At home Friday night against Wheaton Warrenville South, two of the Redhawks’ three sophomores, Czarnowski and 6-foot-5 forward Austin Pauga, had solid nights but the rest of the Redhawks couldn’t provide much else in suffering a 50-47 defeat to the Tigers.
Czarnowski and Pauga combined for 34 of the 47 points Naperville Central (12-9, 4-6 DuPage Valley) put up on the scoreboard, including combining for 13 of its 17 field goals.
“We talked about that at halftime. He should have had 40 points,” Kramer said of Czarnowski, who had a game-high 20 points — 15 coming in the second half. “We don’t get him the ball. Until we learn how to do that again, because we were doing it, (we’ll struggle). We forgot how to feed the post. Nick’s gotta touch the ball every time down the floor.”
After scoring 14 points in the first half, 11 coming in the first quarter, Pauga was held scoreless for the remainder of the evening.
“We finally located where (No.) 32 was on the map,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Bob Szorc said. “Kids did a good job (finding Pauga).”
While the Redhawks relied predominantly on the contributions of Czarnowski and Pauga, Wheaton Warrenville South (8-13, 4-6 DuPage Valley) used a far more balanced approach.
Four Tigers tallied at least eight points, with a trio — Tim Zyburt, Matt Kienzle and Michael Kramer — finishing in double figures.
With 16 points and eight rebounds, Zyburt led the way for the Tigers, who led for the majority of the game, with the Redhawks’ lone lead coming at 12-11 after a Pauga three-pointer.
Wheaton Warrenville South guard Danny Roadman responded with a three-pointer of his own and the Tigers, who led by as many as nine points in the second half, wouldn’t trail again.
“People really stepped up tonight,” said Roadman, who chipped in eight points.
Trailing by five points heading into halftime, the Redhawks cut their deficit to three points on several occasions in the second half but couldn’t get any closer.
Struggling to find much cohesion offensively, the Redhawks have dropped three games in a row and head to Hinsdale Central on Tuesday night before hosting Glenbard North next Friday.
“All facets of the game have left us as of right now,” Kramer said.
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