The last time these District 203 rivals met, Drew Crawford was feeling sick but still managed 21 points to lead Naperville Central to a 43-32 victory over Naperville North. The Huskies (7-13, 1-7) will have to deal with the Northwestern-bound swingman again Friday night on their own floor.
Last week West Aurora assigned one primary defender to Crawford, instead of rotating several fresh players to guard him. Jamal Blackmond made Crawford work - he didn't score during one eight-minute stretch in the first half. But Crawford still efficiently put together a 25-point game and just his presence opened things up for the other Redhawks.
After Central's 51-46 win, West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman was asked about ways to contain Crawford.
"No specific gameplan. Just try to keep (Crawford) from penetrating as much as possible, give Jamal as much help as possible," Kerkman said. "Some people force baseline. We do not force baseline. We try to deny baseline. We got beat on the baseline so many times by him, either with backcuts or just dribble-drives.
"He hurt us. There were times where he went down there and we maybe came down to give him help - but he kicked to somebody that was open and they got the good shot."
That is North's dilemma on Friday night. And that's why Central is 19-2 and 9-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference.
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