Grant outruns Marengo

If they didn't already know better, the players on the Grant basketball team might have to occasionally double-check what sport they're actually signed up for.

“Our practices are more like track meets,” Grant junior forward Jerry Gaylor said. “And then we do extra stuff (running) at the end. That's what pushes us to get into the condition we need to be in.”

And the Bulldogs definitely need to be in good condition.

The amount of running they try to do in games is enough to make them honorary members of the track team.

Last year, Grant used a more methodical half-court offense. But this year, head coach Wayne Bosworth decided to completely shake things up. Now, his team presses and looks for quick shots in a pace that is much more lively and up-tempo.

Marengo had a difficult time keeping up on Wednesday night, and Grant ran away with a 62-57 victory on the second day of the Richmond-Burton-Johnsburg Thanksgiving Tournament at Johnsburg High School.

Grant is now 1-1 on the season and Marengo falls to 0-2.

“This is probably going to be a little rocky at first because a lot of guys on our team aren't used to it,” Gaylor said of the new style. “They're used to bringing the ball slowly up the court, getting into an offense, working it around, looking for the cuts and all that stuff.

“Now, we're fast-paced all the time, pressing and getting up and down the floor. It's taking your shots and trying to keep going and going and going and putting points on the board. But we have a lot of athletes on this team and (in the long term) I think we'll be able to adjust to it really well.”

Gaylor seems to be at that point already.

He scored a game-high 18 points, many on fast breaks to the basket that came off of turnovers created by Grant's nagging pressure defense. One of Gaylor's quick takes to the basket resulted in a thunderous dunk.

The Bulldogs also got 14 points out of junior forward Jared Helmich and 13 points out of junior guard Sean Wells.

“If you look at our varsity and our sophomores and our freshmen, they're all athletic and they're all fast,” Bosworth said. “We felt this style would suit our program.

“There are going to be some growing pains along the way since this is our first year of doing this. We're turning the ball over way too much so far. We had 31 turnovers (Tuesday night against Harlem) and we had 15 in the first half tonight. You just hope that there aren't too many growing pains.”

The Bulldogs put the hurt on Marengo in the first half, mostly by capitalizing off of turnovers. They jumped out to a 17-8 first-quarter lead and then took a 30-23 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Marengo made several runs at Grant, and even took a couple of brief leads in the third quarter. But the Bulldogs always came roaring back.

“The effort that the kids gave tonight was tremendous,” Marengo coach David Pettit said. “But I just think we lost focus at times, especially in the fourth quarter, and they were able to put up 20 points in that quarter.

“That's not our kind of game. We need to have the scores in the high 40s or low 50s to be competitive. We're not going to be able to run up and down the floor with many teams like this.”

Marengo got double-figures out of three players, led by junior guard Zack Lundquist, who finished with 16 points. Junior forward Kent Ganvik and senior guard Austin Brettshneider chipped in with 12 and 11 points respectively.