Lake Zurich 62, Grant 38

The regular season ended for the Grant and Lake Zurich boys basketball teams Friday night.

The question is, has the season ended for certain key players from each North Suburban Conference team?

Lake Zurich won for the sixth time in seven games Friday night, rolling past visiting Grant 62-38 in a conference crossover, despite missing two important players.

Austin Cox and Danny Coleman both were out with the flu, and coach John Zarr said his two juniors could be sidelined a week. Cox starts at guard and recently scored 20 points against Libertyville. The 6-foot-6 Coleman, who was starting earlier in the season before recently settling in as the Bears' sixth man, posted a double-double at Dixon last weekend.

Lake Zurich (15-11), seeded 14th in the Barrington sectional, opens the state tournament Monday night at Palatine against the host Pirates, who are the No. 17 seed. The winner plays Tuesday against No. 4 Stevenson.

"Tonight just shows that even though two of our key players were down we just stick together as a team and we fight through it," said Lake Zurich guard Connor Mooney, who sank five 3-pointers and led all scorers with 19 points. He also dished out 4 assists.

Grant (15-11), meanwhile, played without leading scorer Mike Shields. The senior guard, who averages around 21 points per game, was on the bench in uniform but never saw the floor, apparently for disciplinary reasons.

"We were still preparing for him," Lake Zurich's Andy Garlisch said. "We had prepared for him the past two days."

It was Shields' second "did not play-coach's decision" in four games. Grant coach Phil Ralston did not want to comment on his three-year starter, but acknowledged Shields is not hurt.

Ralston also refused to comment on whether Shields would play Monday night, when the 16th-seeded Bulldogs take on No. 19 Barrington at Conant. The winner plays the following night against No. 2 Conant.

Without its top offensive weapon, Grant struggled to put the ball in the basket against Lake Zurich. The Bulldogs secured the opening tip and milked nearly a minute and a half off the clock before turning the ball over.

Lake Zurich worked patiently against Grant's zone and was able to build a 10-6 lead after one quarter, thanks in part to Mooney's two 3s.

Mooney, Scott Olson and Nick Iden each hit 3-pointers in the second half, helping the Bears extend their advantage to 23-10 by halftime.

"We like the up-tempo game," Mooney said. "Unfortunately, they slowed us down with the zone, but to beat a zone you just got to drive and kick. The most important thing is to shoot the ball."

Grant took just 9 shots and committed 8 turnovers in the opening two quarters, but the Bulldogs' effort, or lack thereof, might have been more upsetting to their coach.

"I just want them to go out and compete -- win, lose or draw," said Ralston, whose team received 14 points from Gilbert Sheehan and 12 from Curtis Oler.

"In the grand scheme of things, would being able to beat Lake Zurich be a nice feather in our cap for this season? Absolutely. But we at times tonight did not show the passion that we've had all season long by individuals."

Lake Zurich opened the second half with 3-pointers by Chas Evans and Mooney and a layup by Garlisch, and never relented.

Garlisch finished with 15 points, while Brandon Kunz added 10 points and 10 rebounds, as the Bears won their third straight.

"We've been stepping it up the past few weeks, playing with a bunch of teams that we would have just backed down to at the beginning of the season," Garlisch said.

"Our kids responded well to (Cox and Coleman being out) and stepped up," Zarr said. "But Grant was shorthanded too."