Crowning moment for Grant
A trio of trophies tops three of a different kind.
"Let's get some more (trophies)," Grant boys basketball coach Wayne Bosworth said, laughing, after his fifth-seeded Bulldogs edged the host Bears 51-47 Friday night in the Class 4A Lake Zurich regional final.
Two years ago, no one was even chuckling or smiling at Grant after a 3-win season. Now, the Bulldogs are overjoyed. By beating No. 4 Lake Zurich (19-12) on its home court, Grant (21-8) picked up its first regional championship since 1989 and advanced to Tuesday's 7 p.m. sectional semifinal at Robert Morris University in Arlington Heights against top-seeded Fremd (28-0).
"They're a heck of a team," Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said of Grant. "They've got a lot of pieces, a good big guy, and they just hammer the boards. They're so tough and physical, they get a lot of loose balls, and then they round the arc with some good shooters."
Grant's only loss in its last 15 games was to Fremd (55-43) on Jan. 28. Since that game, the Bulldogs won a share of the Northern Lake County Conference championship and have manufactured a nine-game winning streak. Counting a third-place finish in Jacobs' holiday tournament, Grant has won three trophies this season.
"It's amazing," said senior forward Ben Kusiak, who along with classmates Logan Lewis and Andy Kaye played for the varsity two years ago. Friday night, all three players started. "It's hard to put into words."
Kusiak's play spoke for itself. His 13 points tied Mike Huff (three 3-pointers) for team-scoring honors, and his 2 free throws with 20.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter made it a 4-point game.
Neither team scored after that.
"My teammate Jon (Kerr) came up to me and gave me confidence," said Kusiak, who was 4 of 4 from the line in the fourth and 7 of 8 for the game. "He just said, 'Relax, knock them down, you got it.' It's what you dream of when you're practicing free throws - (hitting clutch free throws) in a championship game."
Kerr provided his scoring, too. While Lake Zurich's 6-foot-3 Peter DiCerbo helped limit the 6-6 Kerr to half his scoring average, the senior forward still had 10 points (3-of-10 shooting) and 9 rebounds.
"He really plays hard and tries to outwork his opponent," Kerr said of DiCerbo. "I respect that in a player. He's a good player. He's going to be going places in the future."
While DiCerbo scored 12 points, including 10 in the first half to keep Lake Zurich within 26-24 at the break, Bears guard Michael Bens led all scorers with 17 points. Grant built a 37-27 lead with 5:04 left in the third after Lewis found Huff for a 3-pointer and then Kerr for a baseline bucket.
But Bens hit two 3-pointers, as Lake Zurich closed the quarter with a 10-2 run to get within 39-37 entering the fourth.
The Bears never caught up, though, as Kyle Dupree (7 points off the bench) and Huff hit 3-pointers during an 8-0 run to start the fourth. Kenny Haynes' 3-point play pulled Lake Zurich within 49-47 with 1:29 left, but the Bears missed a layup that would have tied the score and later 2 free throws that would have cut the margin to two.
"(Grant) just executed a little better than us," Bens said. "We just didn't run our game plan to 100 percent, and against a good team in a regional final you got to run your game plan 99.9-percent correct."
Grant also got 8 points from Kaye and 5 assists for Lewis, "a consummate point guard," Pitcher said. Three-year varsity players Kusiak, Kaye and Lewis are part of a group of 11 seniors and four juniors.
"When you have high-character kids who have a work ethic, don't panic, don't want to go one on one and don't think that they have to make the next big play, stuff like this (championships) happens," Bosworth said. "All the credit goes to these guys."
Ryan Kutsor added 10 points for Lake Zurich, which last year won its first regional title under Pitcher. The Bears fell 1 win shy of their third straight 20-win campaign.
"Billy does such a great job over there," Bosworth said. "They're so disciplined, they run their stuff so well, their bigs seal, and their footwork is good. They're just real fundamentally sound."