Grant pulls it out in OT
Mike Shields went from goat to hero in a span of three minutes Saturday night.
He led Grant to a 66-58 overtime victory over Grayslake North in the opening round of the Grant Holiday Tournament.
Grant (7-3) trailed 39-38 to begin the fourth quarter when Shields was called for a foul and then a technical.
Grayslake North (2-6) took advantage, as senior Clay Henricksen converted 1 of 2 foul shots and then followed with a 3-pointer. When the Knights got the ball back, Henricksen nailed another 3.
After the Bulldogs' Marc Grischeau (13 points) scored on a layup, the Knights' Noel DeLaMar answered with his own layup and followed with a foul shot to complete the three-point play.
Shields then took over.
He scored 8 points during a 10-2 run to give the Bulldogs a 53-51 lead with 20 seconds left.
After each team had a turnover, Grant Henricksen scored off an inbounds pass to tie the score with five seconds left and send the game to overtime.
Then it was Curtis Oler's turn to shine. He sank 3 shots from the floor, finishing with 16 points). Grischeau also came up big, scoring 5 points in OT. Shields dished 2 assists in the extra session.
"We made one too many mistakes in regulation," Knights coach Todd Grunloh said. "We had an eight-point lead with like two minutes left and (Grant) had a 4-0 run and then we had a turnover.
"We talked the whole the game about meeting the pass on the press and the one time we don't do a very good job on it they get a layup."
Clay Henricksen led the Eagles with 20 points, including three 3-pointers.
"Clay is a solid player," Grunloh said. "He knows how to play offensively and defensively. He's physical and is a tough kid.
As for Shields, despite sitting the first five minutes of the game, he scored 13 points in the second half and led all scorers with 22 points.
"We didn't want to lose this game, especially since we are the defending champs," said Shields, who also dished out 9 assists and had 4 steals. "We still have to play as a team more and still have to find our swagger."
As for why he didn't start?
"I've been battling the flu lately and I haven't been doing 100 percent at practices since I've been sick," Shields said. "You just got to move on from that and just play your hardest."
"I'm happy with the effort the last three minutes of the regulation and then overtime," Grant coach Phil Ralston said. "Unfortunately, we don't play like that the whole game. If we had, the game wouldn't have gone into overtime. But I give Grayslake North a tremendous amount of credit. Their kids played hard. They earned the right to push us that far and they did an outstanding job."