Boys Basketball: Naperville Central hands St Viator first loss

Updated: December 28, 2011 10:23PM

Nick Czarnowski helped rally Naperville Central to hand St. Viator its first loss 74-60 in the quarterfinals of the Hardwood Classic in Wheeling Wednesday.

Czarnowski scored 20 points, 13 in the second half and grabbed 8 rebounds as the Redhawks (7-3) rallied from an early 16-point deficit.

“I came out more aggresive in the second half,” said Czarnowski, who is a 6-8 sophomore. “We kinda of had to start from scratch. I thought we did a pretty good job of coming out in the second half and turning things around.”

“Czarnowski was the key,” Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said. “He started playing like he is capable of playing. When he plays like that he inspires everyone else.”

St. Viator (11-1) used its defense to give the Lions an early lead.

Leading 8-5 early in the first quarter, St. Viator held Naperville Central scoreless for 7:20. Meanwhile the Lions ran off 13 points to lead 21-5 with 5:13 left in the first half.

Trailing 37-26 early in the third quarter, Naperville Central made its move. The Redhawks went on a 17-5 run to lead 43-42 on a putback from Czarnowski with 2:36 left in the third quarter.

Naperville Central led 55-50 on Czarnowski’s three-point play with 5:07 to play.

St. Viator rallied to lead 60-58 on a trey by Ore Arogundade (17 points) with 2:48 to play. But it was the last lead for the Lions as the Redhawks scored the final 16 points, shooting 13 of 15 from the line.

“I just thought we woke up,” Kramer said. “We just started to compete.”

Austin Pauga led Naperville Central with 23 points while Ian Lewandowski added 12 points.

DJ Morris led St. Viator with 18 points while Chris Myjak added 12 points.

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