Round Lake 54, Grant 52

It's debatable who was sweatier Friday night -- Round Lake boys basketball coach Jeremy Fisher or his players.

As Fisher chatted with people on his way off the court, he couldn't help but keep dabbing all the beads of sweat that had collected on his head.

"I've been sweating since halftime," Fisher laughed.

And that was long before the Panthers made Fisher sweat out a 54-52 North Suburban Conference Prairie Division victory over visiting Grant.

Round Lake fell behind by as many as 10 points early in the fourth quarter but managed to erase that -- thanks in large part to 2 huge 3-pointers by Jeff Nicoline -- and then take a 3-point lead with 1:23 left in the game.

A few seconds later, Grant cut its deficit to 1 point after 2 free throws by Mike Shields. And then, the Bulldogs almost got the ball back with some tough defense on the other end.

They deflected a pass by Round Lake guard Vernon Randolph. But the ball hit the backboard and ended up in the hands of Round Lake guard Jerome Brown, who was standing right under the hoop.

He scored a layup to put the Panthers back up by 3 points (54-51) with just 33 seconds remaining.

Grant's Nick Mason then hit a free throw with 20 seconds left to cut the Round Lake lead to 2 points. But by the time the Bulldogs got the ball back again, all there was time for was a desperation shot from halfcourt at the buzzer.

Round Lake, which has now won two games in a row, gets its first home victory of the season. The Panthers move to 3-11 overall and 1-3 in the Prairie Division.

Grant, which couldn't capitalize on a game-high 31 points from Shields, drops to 9-5 overall and 2-3 in the Prairie.

"I just got lucky, I guess. The ball bounced right into my hands," Brown said of his winning basket. "I'm just glad I finished it. It kind of sealed the game."

Brown finished with 13 points and Randolph poured in a team-high 17 points, thanks to 5 three-pointers.

"Talk about exciting," Fisher said of Brown's big basket. "I held my breath for a second (when Randolph's pass got deflected) and then Jerome got the ball and hit the layup and I was like, 'Oh, thanks goodness.'

"This was such a good win for us. It's huge to be able to pull out a close game like this. There are a lot of positives out of this that we can build upon. You know, we just came off a win against Leyden (in the Grant holiday tournament). This is what we've been talking about. This is just the kind of momentum we need to put some more wins up on the board."

Meanwhile, Grant just needed to make some free throws.

The Bulldogs were 5-of-13 on the game, including 4-of-9 in the fourth quarter.

"The free throw line says it right there," Grant coach Phil Ralston said. "It's very discouraging. We should be the type of teams that expands leads, not one that gives them up."

Another key for the Panthers was their aggressiveness on the boards. They out-rebounded Grant 35-27 and had 13 offensive rebounds.

"Coaches talk about the little things all the time," Shields said, referring to rebounding and free throws. "If we don't work on those and get better, we'll keep losing just like we did today."