DuPage Valley Conference: January 2009 Archives

Naperville North is 6-10 overall - 0-6 in DuPage Valley Conference play - and it looks like turning the season around just became more difficult. Huskies coach Mark Lindo said Tuesday that senior guard Danny Grimley and junior forward Arnas Gintautas could both be done for the season. Grimley has been playing through a stress fracture in his foot while Arnas Gintautas may need shoulder surgery for an injury suffered during football season

The Huskies travel to an improved West Chicago team on Friday for their only game scheduled this week.

"We're giving up a lot of easy looks on defense right now," Lindo said. "People are knocking down jump shots against us (and) we just lost a couple key people to injuries. And that's what we went through all last year and now we're doing that again."

Neuqua Valley and Naperville Central are both rising in Michael O'Brien's Sun-Times basketball rankings. Neuqua (14-1) climbed three spots to No. 12. Central - which improved to 14-1 overall and 5-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference last weekend - moved from No. 22 to No. 18.

"Great team win," Central coach Pete Kramer said after Saturday's 54-46 victory at Wheaton Warrenville South. "It puts us in a real good position cause if you look at where we have to go, and where we've already been, (that's) a good thing. (But) again, as a team, we've talked about one game at a time. Next it's West Chicago."

Here then is a breakdown of Central's upcoming DVC schedule. The Redhawks have already notched home wins against West Aurora, Naperville North and Glenbard North. They've traveled to Glenbard East and WW South and earned victories. The remainders look like this:

Naperville Central nearly gave away all of its 15-point lead on Saturday night at Wheaton Warrenville South before closing out a 54-46 win. WW South made it a one-possession game in the final minute, but what really added a layer of tension to the finish was the fact that Central had Drew Crawford down for three fouls while the official book had him with four.

Basically there was a miscommunication at the scorers' table. At some point, a foul that should have gone to No. 11 (Danny Ondik) instead went to No. 1 (Crawford - who incidentally is the son of a veteran NBA referee).

Afterward WW South coach Mike Healy said Crawford might be the most valuable player in the entire state - who knows what would have happened if the Northwestern-bound senior had picked up his phantom fifth foul.