Grayslake Central steps up its defense

The Grayslake Central boys basketball team put on a clinic in the first quarter of Tuesday's home game against Dundee-Crown.

After junior Charles Kimbrough scored a basket on Dundee-Crown's first possession, the Rams scored 15 consecutive points and led 15-4 after eight minutes. The Rams cruised from there for a 51-36 victory.

At one point, Dundee-Crown turned the ball over on seven consecutive possessions. The Chargers had 9 turnovers in the first quarter and 18 by halftime. Grayslake Central's defense even impressed the team's harshest critic, coach Tim Bowen.

"We haven't played any better defense than that," said Bowen, whose Rams won their third in a row. "I'm proud of the kids. We did a great job with our ball pressure."

Midway through the first quarter, Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber had to call two timeouts in the span of less than a minute.

"Grayslake made us play faster than we wanted to," he said. "We didn't make good decisions and we rushed our passes. Give Grayslake credit. We won't be the last team this happens to."

The Rams (5-2) increased their lead to 20-4 before the Chargers (2-3) scored a pair of baskets.

"I still thought we had an opportunity," Huber said.

Instead, the Rams enjoyed a double-digit advantage for the rest of the game.

"We did a good job of focusing and showing mental toughness," Bowen said.

Grayslake junior forward Alex Anderson scored seven consecutive points near the end of the third quarter. On his last basket, a 3-pointer from the top of the key, he turned his left ankle when he landed. Anderson missed the rest of the game, and Bowen said he will be evaluated today.

Anderson was 5 of 5 from the field on 2-pointers and 2 of 3 from behind the arc for a game-high 178 points.

Senior forward Jared Zygmunt and junior guard Mike Brumm each scored 9 points. Dundee-Crown junior Freddie Parson had a team-high 10 points.

The Rams ability to move the ball created high-percentage shots.

"We tried to run our motion offense from inside out," Bowen said. "We made good cuts to the basket."