North Chicago gets key win against Grant

It was as if the Grant and North Chicago boys basketball teams really had something to play for.

Oh wait. They did.

The North Suburban Conference Prairie Division championship was essentially on the line Wednesday night in North Chicago.

Both teams entered the game with one loss. Grant had loss to Vernon Hills last week, and North Chicago had lost to Grant just prior to that.

With only a couple of division games left, the winner of the rematch would be in the driver's seat for the division crown.

It figures the game was settled in the final seconds, with a shot at the buzzer that could have forced an overtime.

North Chicago avenged its earlier loss to Grant by squeaking out a 68-66 win this time. The Warhawks made two huge defensive plays and a clutch 3-point play (the old-fashioned variety) in the final 20 seconds to come out on top.

North Chicago improves to 13-9 overall and 9-1 in the Prairie. Grant drops to 13-11 overall and 8-2 in the division.

"We didn't want to lose to these guys again," said North Chicago guard Marreon White, who scored 17 points. "That's a good (Grant) team and they played hard and they wanted to win, but we had to want it more.

"We wanted to win bad and I think that's the reason we were able to close the game out in the end."

North Chicago was down 66-65 with 20 seconds left, and Grant had the ball under its own basket.

Thanks to all-out pressure and deny defense, the Warhawks were able to steal the inbounds pass and X'Zemenize Boose ended up finishing on the other end while getting fouled. His made free throw put North Chicago up 68-66 with 15 seconds left.

Grant had no timeouts left and struggled to move the ball down the floor, and then got stuck passing around the ball out beyond the 3-point line on its own end. Ben Kusiak (team-high 17 points) finally managed to make a drive to the basket, but his hurried floater at the buzzer was no good.

"We were trying to get our guards in the four corners and me in the middle," said Grant center John Kerr, who finished with 16 points. "But it was kind of scrambled and it was really loud and we just got confused and they (the Warhawks) were being really aggressive.

"We still got a decent shot at the end, but it just couldn't finish."

The faces that headed into the Grant locker room after the game were long and unhappy.

"Obviously, we're a little depressed right now," Kerr said. "We just have to get over that. We still have more games to come, regionals, too. We're going to play even harder now."

Grant was able to overcome 31 turnovers and a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and still have a shot at the end.

"I told the guys (in the post-game locker room) that I'm proud of them and I am proud of their effort," Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. "We could have rolled over and died. I thought we fought a lot of obstacles out here today. I was really proud that our guys never hung their heads, you never saw bad body language. Our kids kept their composure. I think that's what allowed them to fight back into that game."

Nick Kouvelis finished with 9 points for Grant while Andy Kaye, who just returned from a concussion, added 8 points.

North Chicago got a team-high 20 points from Simeon Henton while Boose finished with 16 points.

"A win is a win, but did we deserve to win? No," North Chicago coach Gerald Coleman said. "We had no intensity. The guys played in spurts. We play much better as a team than we did tonight."