Grayslake Central 73, Woodstock 71
In a perfect basketball world, Tim Bowen would probably go a whole season without burning a timeout.
"I don't want to call any," Grayslake Central's boys coach said. "I try to save them all for the end of the game in case we need them."
Friday night, the Rams figured to need a couple in the second half. So, Bowen got miserly with his timeouts in the first half.
Even with visiting Woodstock hitting almost every 3-pointer it launched in building an 18-point lead, Bowen never asked for time. The Blue Streaks were up 41-28 at the break against a Rams team that came into the nonconference game allowing an average of only 45 points per game.
Said Woodstock coach Joe Conroy, who lauded Bowen's strategy: "I can hear Coach Bowen -- 'We played the worst half of basketball, they lit it up, and we're going to be OK.'
"They came out and proved it."
Grayslake Central came out after halftime, rallied and pulled out a 73-71 victory, scoring the most points it has all season while also yielding the most.
"We knew we just had to keep our composure," said Rams senior Mike Davis, who led all scorers with a career-high 23 points, going 10 of 10 from the foul line. "We knew they couldn't hit all day. And then we just had to play hard, play smart and knock down some shots."
Grayslake Central (11-4) did all of the above in denying Woodstock (7-10) what would have been the Blue Streaks' sixth win in seven games.
The visitors went an amazing 8-of-12 from beyond the arc in the opening half, with two of the misses desperation buzzer-beaters.
"We've settled for jump shots all year and that's cost us games," Conroy said. "We just thought second half we'd try and pound it inside. So maybe some guys turned down some shots they shouldn't have."
"We had a little discussion at halftime," Bowen said, "about how to guard the 3, how to move our feet and quit giving up easy penetration, and how to box out."
With Davis and sophomore Andrew Sipes (20 points, 8 rebounds) leading a second-half charge, the Rams slowly chipped away at their deficit.
They got within 53-50 after three and eventually grabbed the lead for good on a steal and layup by Davis with 4:47 left. The Rams built their lead to six, but with Derek Brown hitting two of his five 3s and scoring 10 of his team-high 19 points in the quarter, Woodstock stayed around.
Grayslake Central's Mike Brumm (13 points, 6 assists) made the second of 2 foul shots with 6.5 seconds left to make it 73-71. An off-balance shot by the Blue Streaks just before the buzzer missed.
Besides Brown's 19, Woodstock also got double-digit points from Ben Wetherbee (11), Arthur Johnson (10) and Cameron Sanchez (10). Wetherbee and Nate Burns (9) each hit three 3s, as Woodstock drained 11 total.
Meanwhile, the Rams ended the game with timeouts to burn.
"Two reasons (for not calling any in the first half)," Bowen said. "One, I know we're fine. We're going to play through it and it makes us better when we do play through it.
"And two, I wanted to save the timeouts because I knew we were going to need them in the second half to give our kids some rest and maybe have a comeback."