Grant 87, Antioch 49

Grant's boys basketball team made its first home appearance of the season Friday night.

And the Bulldogs sure seemed comfortable in their home gym, picking up a decisive victory on the heels of their first loss of the season on Tuesday.

Grant bounced back with authority to earn an 87-49 victory over Antioch in a North Suburban Prairie opener.

Bulldogs senior Mike Shields led a balanced attack with 27 points. Four others hit double digits.

"We needed better preparation and needed to come out strong," said Grant coach Phil Ralston, in reference to a nonconference loss Tuesday. "That's a nice thing to see after taking a lump against Maine East, seeing the kids come out and do it to another team. Our kids are resilient and came back playing a real nice game."

Other Bulldogs (5-1, 1-0) who figured prominently in the scoring were Curtis Oler (13 points), Gilbert Sheehan and Aaron Wehde (11 each) and Marc Gricheau (10 points and 7 rebounds off the bench).

"That's what we want, balanced scoring," Ralston said. "We've got depth and we've got other kids to give us a great team effort here.

Shields made sure his teammates stayed involved, dishing the ball off numerous times to create scoring chances for others.

"The game is fun and that's the most important thing," said Shields who was 6 of 10 from the field and had 9 steals. "When we have fun, we score a lot of points and get everyone involved.

"Most teams try to get me out of the ballgame or stop my penetration. I know that, and I get others involved and make them a threat."

Grant broke the game open in the first quarter after leading 3-2 in the first couple of minutes. The Bulldogs went on a 21-6 run for a 24-8 lead heading into the second quarter.

"It was their mindset --in the first five minutes, it was like, 'What happened?' " Antioch coach Mike Skinner said. "For some reason we think that we can't get it done. They are so used to losing and being on the short end. I'm trying to change that and it's very difficult to do it. We do have a lot of youth."

The Bulldogs kept their scoring attack going and led 53-28 over Antioch (0-5, 0-1).

Sequoits senior Michael Powell led the way with 27 points but Antioch played the game without usual starters Lamarr Pottinger and Kyle Melton. Both missed the game for disciplinary reasons.

"I thought Grant has a solid ballclub," Skinner said. "I give credit for the way Shields can score. He's got two or three guys running at him and he knows how to give the ball up. He's a senior and knows how to play at that level."