Grant dumps Round Lake

What a difference three days — and a trapping pressure defense — makes.

On Friday, the Grant boys basketball team played rival Round Lake in a North Suburban Conference Prairie Division game and barely squeaked out a 2-point victory.

On Monday, the Bulldogs stretched their defense, and ultimately, the final margin in a 71-55 victory over Round Lake on the second day of their own holiday tournament.

The Bulldogs improve to 6-3 and have now won three games in a row. Round Lake, meanwhile, drops to 3-8.

“We came in early today and watched film and we knew that if we could just stop their point guard and put pressure on him, we could mess up their offense and get some steals,” said Grant senior guard Vic Muntu, who was at the center of the trapping defense.

Muntu and his teammates turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, and that's when they started pulling away.

Up by just three points at halftime (27-24), the Bulldogs went on a 10-2 run at the start of the third quarter. Round Lake got no closer than 5 points from that point after.

During that stretch, Muntu and fellow senior Jerry Gaylor teamed up to set one effective trap after another and capitalized at the other end with 6 points between them.

Gaylor made one particular Round Lake turnover hurt even more when he sped down the floor and turned it into a thunderous dunk.

Gaylor finished with 14 points for Grant, just behind junior forward Jared Helmich, who scored a team-high 18 points and was a monster on the offensive boards for the second game in a row. He rolled up 13 boards, including 7 on the offensive end.

Meanwhile, Muntu had 8 points and was personally involved in many of Round Lake's 15 turnovers.

“We thrive off of those good defensive plays, because we know they're going to lead to good offensive plays,” Gaylor said. “Vic gets everyone pumped up and motivated to play defense. He just gets you going.”

Muntu sees that as part of his job.

He says he might be the biggest jokester on the team, but when it's time to play basketball, he's all business.

After the 2-point win against Round Lake on Friday, he figured he needed to remind his teammates that they needed to be the same way. All business.

“After that game, I took it upon myself to talk to everyone in the locker room. I just said, ‘We've got to wake up and play better. This is business,'” Muntu said. “Coach talked to me and he told me that he wanted me to be a leader on this team. I want to take that role and be that guy that gets everyone pumped up.”

Juddon Carter was trying to be that guy for Round Lake.

He finished with a game-high 25 points on 4 three-pointers and was a big reason Round Lake kept pace in the first half. He scored 11 of his points before halftime.

But, bothered by Grant's press, the Panthers didn't get much other scoring. Their top inside threat, Nick Lange, had just 2 points and was in foul trouble for much of the game. He eventually fouled out.

“When they put the press on, we couldn't adapt to it very well,” Carter said. “And once we did, it was too late. We weren't mentally focused down the stretch. It was like (Grant) wanted it more.”

Grant wound up getting four players in double-figures. Besides Helmich and Gaylor, Allen Lewis and Kyle Lombardino each had 10 points.

After Carter, Round Lake's next highest scorers were Teandre Brown and Gage Steger, each of whom had 8 points.

“With that pressure (from Grant), we started forcing things instead of being disciplined,” Round Lake coach Jim Roberts said. “The other thing was the rebounding. They got so many offensive rebounds and that just killed us. To me, that was the game. It gets defeating when you get a stop and they get the offensive rebound.”