Quite a first for Naperville Central’s Jack First, finally savoring a DVC win. Against North. ‘Made my year.’

Junior forward Jack First and his Naperville Central teammates waited a long time for their first DuPage Valley Conference win of the season.

The Redhawks dropped their first seven conference games, including a 30-point thumping at the hands of crosstown rival Naperville North.

So First was ready for the rematch on Friday.

“I’ve been looking forward to this game for a while after losing at their place,” he said. “I knew I needed to perform well to get the win at our house, so I was focused all week, and coach drew up a great game plan for us.

“We were able to execute it, which led to a lot of easy baskets down low.”

Most of those baskets were scored by the 6-foot-5 First, who made his final six attempts and scored a career-high 16 points to go with 11 rebounds and two blocked shots as the host Redhawks stunned the Huskies 47-39.

First made 7 of 9 shots, accounting for half of his team’s baskets. He also made both of his free-throw attempts.

“Jack’s been coming on, playing better,” Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said. “He’s rebounded pretty well all year, but his offense is starting to come on.

“He’s a junior, so he goes through peaks and valleys. That’s the way it’s been with our season.”

Indeed, this was First’s second double-double in three games. The Redhawks (7-17, 1-7), who endured a nine-game losing streak and had lost 13 of 15, won both games in which First reached that plateau.

The win over the Huskies (16-11, 5-3) was a dramatic turnaround from the first meeting, which North won 65-35 on Dec. 16. First scored two points in that game.

This time the Redhawks emphasized a patient offense and good ball movement. They took only 26 shots compared to 49 for the Huskies but made them count.

First scored six points during a 12-5 run in the third quarter and then made consecutive layups off nice feeds from junior center Ross DeZur to give the Redhawks a 33-25 lead with 3:32 left in the third quarter.

“A lot of great passes from Ross and the guards,” First said. “I knew that they were going to help on Ross, so the bottom was going to be wide open, and great job by my teammates of finding me open.”

First fouled out with 2:36 remaining, but the Redhawks made 12 of 17 free throws down the stretch. Senior point guard Simon Krugliakovas, who tied Naperville North junior guard Luke Williams for game-high scoring honors with 19 points, made six.

The Huskies, who had won five straight games and seven of their past eight, had plenty of opportunities but hit just 10 of 49 shots, including 3 of 27 on 3-point attempts. Many of those misses ended up in First’s hands.

“I think it really comes down to Jack,” Krugliakovas said. “He grabbed a lot of boards. He was being strong down there. Sometimes there was only him down there, and he was outrebounding three guys. So just him outworking everyone really gave us a big spark to win that game.”

That wasn’t unexpected, according to Krugliakovas.

“He’s a great player,” Krugliakovas said. “He does that a lot in practice, so we know that he can do it. Big shoutout to Ross, too, because he found him every single time, and he finished them down low.”

In a season filled with many lows, First is going to relish this high.

“It couldn’t have been at a better time, honestly,” he said. “This is the rivalry that we look forward to every year. Beating them made my year. I’m so happy. There’s a lot more work to be done, regionals to win, but we’ve got to celebrate this one for now.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.