Grayslake North beats Grayslake Central for first time

It’s all over.

The frustration is over. The longing is over. The streak is over.

Grayslake North ended five years of futility Monday night by doing what had never been done before in school history.

The host Knights took down sister school and cross-town rival Grayslake Central in a boys varsity basketball game.

And emphatically, no less.

Grayslake North busted open a close game with a strong fourth quarter and wound up rolling to a 56-40 Fox Valley Conference Fox Division victory.

The Knights ended a nine-game losing streak and are now 1-9 all-time against Grayslake Central.

The win was historic on another level for the Knights, who also set a school record for most wins in a season.

Grayslake North is now 15-5 overall and 7-2 in the Fox Division, which keeps the Knights very much alive in the race for the division title.

Meanwhile, Grayslake Central, which had beaten Grayslake North earlier in the season, drops to 11-10 overall and 6-3 in the Fox.

The Rams were down 37-32 at the beginning of the fourth quarter but didn’t score over the final 3:08.

“It’s just great to get a win like this,” said Grayslake North senior guard Teddy Ludwick, who has been playing on varsity since his sophomore year and has seen his fair share of frustrating losses to Grayslake Central. “I was telling our guys before the game that this was it. This was the last chance for us seniors to get (Grayslake Central). I really didn’t want to go down with an 0-10 record against them.

“I’ll never forget this game. I was going to be really disappointed if I didn’t get a chance to beat Central. This just means a lot to me. Really.”

With a game-high 14 points, Ludwick did his part to make sure there would be no disappointment this time around.

Grayslake North also got double figures from sophomore guard AJ Fish (13 points) and junior forward Zack Krupp (11). The Knights got points out of seven players for strong balance.

“You’re not going to beat somebody every time. You’ve got to figure they were going to get us sometime and Grayslake North has a great team this year,” Grayslake Central coach Brian Moe said. “They’ve got great role players who all know their jobs. Nobody forces anything. They all take the shots they’re meant to take, and they get the ball to Teddy (Ludwick) and AJ (Fish) a lot so that their best players can take shots at key times.

“They took it to us and they wanted the win more than we did. They did a great job of dictating the game.”

Grayslake North set the tone by playing an aggressive zone defense that neutralized Grayslake Central’s potent inside game and cooled its perimeter shooters.

The Rams rely heavily on 6-foot-8 center Casey Boyle and 6-foot-6 forward CJ Stempeck, but the two combined for only 12 points. Meanwhile, leading scorer Jordan Taylor, a guard who is averaging about 16 points per game, was held to just 3 points.

Only sophomore guard Dan Reed (11 points) finished in double figures for Grayslake Central.

“I think the zone definitely took (Grayslake Central) out of their rhythm,” said Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh, whose strong desire to finally beat Grayslake Central couldn’t be hidden. He jumped up and down on the sideline with every big play the Knights made. “And then we got some confidence as we started to hit our shots. I didn’t think we would go 32 minutes in (the zone), but it worked.

“This means a lot. I’m going to get text message after text message from guys who have already come through here, and our guys really embrace that. They not only wanted to win this for themselves and the school, but for all the guys who came through here and didn’t have that opportunity or ability to beat Grayslake Central.”