Grozavescu, Wauconda tough out 'W'

Another game, another elbow to Eric Grozavescu's mouth.

But, hey, he's smiling. And why not? Wauconda's rugged power forward still has all his teeth at least.

Two days after getting hit near his jaw while diving on the court to secure a loose ball, Grozavescu got an elbow-and-shoulder combo to his face while grabbing a rebound.

He drew blood on both occasions, but he's not crying about it.

"It's worth it to get to the championship (game)," Grozavescu said after helping Wauconda edge Grayslake North 39-36 in overtime at Richmond-Burton on Friday night.

The win gave Wauconda a 3-0 record in the second annual Richmond-Burton/Johnsburg Thanksgiving tournament. The Bulldogs will play for the championship at 7:30 p.m. today at Richmond-Burton.

Wauconda outlasted Grayslake North (1-2) despite shooting 31 percent from the floor (15 of 48) and 39 percent from the foul line (7 of 18).

Bryce Lahrman led the Bulldogs with 12 points. Connor Dimick added 9 points, and Grozavescu had 9 points and a team-high 8 rebounds.

"Ugly, ugly game," Wauconda coach Rich Wolf said. "But we just kept fighting, kept fighting, kept fighting. It says something about this team when you're able to pull out a win like this."

Dimick had a chance to win the game in regulation but his contested shot on a baseline drive wouldn't fall. Wauconda, which squandered a 7-point lead early in the fourth, had inbounded the ball on the sideline with three seconds left and the score tied 32-32.

"I thought he had a pretty good look, but he had two big guys come out on him," Wolf said of Dimick. "We executed the out-of-bounds play perfectly. It was just a matter of not being able to put it in the hole. I told (Dimick) to keep his head up high, he's going to hit the game-winner for us."

Wauconda's junior point guard essentially did. Dimick's 3-pointer with 2:12 left in OT gave the Bulldogs a 35-33 lead. He scored again a minute later on a driving layup.

Grayslake North, which got game highs of 13 points and 12 rebounds from Clay Henricksen, had a chance to win it in the closing seconds of OT, but missed an open 3 from the corner. Grozavescu rebounded the miss and sank 1 of 2 free throws with two seconds to go.

"The biggest difference between last year and this year is the mentality of our team," said Grozavescu, who also started last season for the Bulldogs, who also started 3-0 but finished 12-16.

"We're so much stronger mentally. Playing in tight games like this last year, one mistake and everyone would have put their heads down. But this team, there's something special about it."

-- Joe Aguilar

Hoffman E. 76, Antioch 34: Hoffman Estates wasted little time in taking control of its season opener in the Crystal Lake Central Coaches vs. Cancer Thanksgiving Tourney.

Hoffman led 21-10 after one quarter and then exploded for 28 points in the second quarter in cruising to a 76-34 victory over Antioch.

Junior guard Luke Mead scored of 15 of his game-high 21 points in the first half. His back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter ignited a 15-0 run and increased the Hawks' advantage to 45-16.

"We were hustling a lot and getting a lot of offensive rebounds," Mead said of the second-quarter breakout. "They were crashing the boards and that opened up the 3-pointers."

Senior Casey Terry led an aggressive defense. The Hawks took full advantage of Antioch's 15 first-half turnovers and limited the Sequoits to 34-percent shooting (8 of 23).

"It feels good," said Terry, who contributed 9 points. "We always talk about getting in the passing lanes and we were ready. We just pushed ourselves."

There was plenty of credit to go around for the Hawks with senior Ben Collins chipping in 12 points and 6-foot-4 forward Kevin Lessner adding 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Junior Chris Hall (10 points) and senior Steve Anderson (6 points) came off the bench for the Hawks.

"It was a good start," said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro, whose team shot a sizzling 58 percent (33 of 56). "Everybody played their role and everybody played together."

Antioch (0-1) and first-year head coach Mike Skinner knew there were going to be growing pains with a young team. The Sequoits play a freshman and three sophomores.

Hoffman used that inexperience to score on a number of backdoor cuts and also crash the offensive boards.

"We're young but that's no excuse," said Skinner, whose team fell behind 49-19 after three quarters, which started a running clock for the entire fourth quarter. "That scoreboard is no indication of the work they have done … but we kind of fell apart."

Sophomore Kyle Haley came off the bench to score a team-high 9 points and freshman Kyle Melton and junior Alec Paramski both contributed 8 points for the Sequoits.

-- Michael Eaken

LZ 49, Grayslake Central 41: At Belvidere, the Bears stayed undefeated by outscoring the Rams 16-4 in the fourth quarter.

Connor Mooney led a balanced Lake Zurich attack with 11 points, while Brandon Kunz (8 rebounds) and Chas Evans added 10 apiece. Danny Coleman had 9 points for the Bears (3-0).

Grayslake Central received double-digit points from Alex Anderson (12) and Michael Brumm. Andrew Sipes had 9 points for the Rams, who led 37-33 after three quarters.

Today at Woodstock, Lake Zurich plays McHenry at 10:30 a.m., while Grayslake Central will face Hononegah at 2:30 p.m.

Maine East 68, Vernon Hills 44: At Northridge Prep, the Cougars fell to 0-3.

Chris Morgan and Kenny Rideout had 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Vernon Hills. Chris Weaver contributed 9 points.