Boys Basketball: Hinsdale Central puts the hammer down against Panthers

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Hinsdale Central's Brian Owens puts up a shot against Oak Park-River Forest. | Steve Johnston~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 17, 2012 8:13AM

When Hinsdale Central stormed out to a big lead Saturday against Proviso West, senior Brad Anlauf knew it didn’t mean much based on recent history.

He vividly recalls the first meeting between the two schools Jan. 13 when the Red Devils scored the first 20 points of the game only to eventually lose.

“We were hoping for some revenge tonight,” Anlauf said. “We had a similar lead last time and we definitely did not want that to happen again on our home court. We took a lot away from the first game. We learned we need to have poise and finish. We worked on dribbling the ball and handling pressure and went into this game with that kind of mindset and played much better.”

Hinsdale Central didn’t blow any leads this time, cruising to a 79-49 West Suburban Conference Silver Division victory over visiting Proviso West.

The Red Devils (14-8, 6-4 in Silver) built a 22-11 lead after one quarter and a 43-16 cushion at halftime.

“We talked about staying composed and not letting their pressure get to us this time,” Hinsdale Central coach Nick Latorre said. “We made sure we were doing things fundamentally sound and did a much better job. It was nice that we were able to sustain a lead and build on it.”

Hinsdale Central enjoyed its biggest lead of the game at 66-22 before emptying its bench for almost the entire fourth quarter.

Anlauf had 23 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals to pace the win, despite not playing the final quarter and a half.

The 6-foot-3 guard made 11 of 14 shots, including a couple of breakaway dunks to get the crowd charged up.

“I have to credit my teammates,” Anlauf said. “They got me open looks. Give credit to Coach Latorre because our offense gets a lot of open looks. It’s really a team effort with us.”

Hinsdale Central, which received scoring from 14 different players, got eight points each from Ian Bunting (7 rebounds), Chase Hamilton and Alec Hutcherson, while Tom Garvin, who had 33 points and 14 rebounds in the previous meeting with the Panthers, contributed five points and seven rebounds.

“Brad (Anlauf) had a good game, but everybody played well,” Latorre said. “We played real well defensively and we rebounded the ball well. It was a good team win.”

Proviso West (8-15, 4-7 in Silver), which shot just 9-for-39 (23 percent) from the field in the first three quarters, was led by Joshua Thompson, who had 10 points, four rebounds and two steals.

A 26-point, 13-rebound performance by Naperville Central’s 6-foot-8 sophomore Nick Czarnowski caused big problems all night for Hinsdale Central on Feb. 7.

But a less imposing teammate produced the decisive swing in the visiting Redhawks’ 51-44 win.

Held to one point until the final minute, Naperville Central guard Mike Blaszczyk hit a baseline three-pointer with 50 seconds left to put the Redhawks (12-9) ahead 45-44. He followed with two key free throws with 13 seconds to go, part of six straight converted from the line by the visitors in the last 45 seconds.

Hinsdale Central seemed in control much of the night behind big games from Anlauf (18 points) and Garvin (13 points, 12 rebounds). Aided by 5-of-26 field goal shooting in the first half by the Redhawks, the Red Devils led 20-14 at the break and maintained a 38-32 edge with 6:35 to go.

But a scoreless drought over the last nearly four minutes of the game (including two straight missed one-and-one free throw chances in the last minute) proved costly.

Dave Owen contributed to this story.