Hampshire heats it up vs. Grayslake North
Fans inside the Hampshire gym Friday night didn’t need to worry about windchill warnings: the Whip-Purs were red hot.
The Whips made 11 3-pointers — and just about everything else they threw at the rim — while downing Grayslake North, 89-78, in Fox Valley Conference Fox Division boys basketball action Friday night.
Drew Doran led the shot parade with 5 3-pointers and 24 points. Matthew Bridges added 21 points and 7 rebounds.
Hampshire shot 57 percent for the game, including 61 percent from 3-point range. The Whips were above 60 percent for the game before missing their final 4 shots in what was essentially garbage time.
Austin Spaeth had 13 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds, and Ryan Cork and Brennen Woods added 11 points apiece for Hampshire (9-11, 5-2).
“We could be alone in the gym for a week and not shoot like that,” said Hampshire coach Bob Barnett.
The Knights were no slouches either, shooting 53 percent for the game. Aidan Einloth finished with a game-high 26 points for Grayslake North. Lucas Buckels scored 18 off the bench.
Hampshire led 23-9 after one quarter and maintained a double-digit lead almost the whole way. But it wasn’t as easy as it looked.
The Knights made 9 straight shots in one third-quarter stretch, part of a 13-2 run that got them within 65-57. But Spaeth answered with 7 straight points and Hampshire led 72-57 after 3.
“We cut it to 8 and it still felt like 20 they way they were shooting, so you’ve just got to give them credit,” said Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh. “We tried pretty much every single defense. We played some defenses we’ve never even run, because box-and-one, triangle-and-two, it didn’t matter.”
Dom DiProva and Drew Piggott added 11 points apiece for Grayslake North (6-13, 4-3).
“We called a couple of timeouts there. It was slipping away from us, and we were fascinated with our 3-point shooting, so we had to regroup a little bit,” said Barnett. “But then Spaeth had (7) points in a row and got us back up by 15, and that was huge.”