Grant finally gets it done

Timeouts weren't working.

So Grant coach Wayne Bosworth made good on his promise and tried a new tactic to get his starters' attention Monday night.

"He told us during a (previous) timeout that if we didn't take care of the ball, he would take us all out-and that's what happened," Grant senior forward Gilbert Sheehan said. "He kept his word."

The starters were pulled in a mass substitution early in the third quarter and had to sit and watch as Round Lake cut deeper into a lead that had already started to shrink because of their sloppy play.

That visual - and the inability to do anything about it - apparently was just the right wake-up call.

The starters eventually returned and kicked it into high gear to not only stop Round Lake's surge but to help the Bulldogs run away with a decisive 68-49 victory in the first round of the Grant Boys Basketball Holiday Tournament in Fox Lake.

Grant moves to 6-3 on the season while 0-8 Round Lake, which was playing without starting forward David Windham, who was benched for breaking team rules, is still searching for its first win.

"I think we just finally realized what we needed to do to get the job done," said Sheehan, who figured prominently into the plan.

Sheehan rolled up a game-high 23 points, including a 5-for-5 performance from the free throw line. He tortured the Round Lake defense by relentlessly attacking the basket.

"It seemed like all of his shots were in the lane," Round Lake coach Howard Kravets said. "He's a great player, with a great touch around the basket, but our defense should have been better."

The Panthers also could have taken better care of the ball. They had 25 turnovers against Grant's fullcourt 2-2-1 zone press - an improvement over their previous games, but still a handicap nonetheless.

Mistakes and turnovers prevented Round Lake from fully turning the corner when it cut its deficit to just three points (38-35) with three minutes left in the third quarter.

With the starters back, Grant closed out with a 6-2 run and then rushed out with a 11-4 run to start the fourth quarter.

"I expect that every team will press us," said Round Lake junior forward Jon Martinez, who finished with a team-high 12 points. "People who come out to see us see that we really struggle with the press. But we're working on it. We're working on everything."

Ditto for the Bulldogs, who say they are still very much a work in progress, 19-point win or not.

"I thought we were kind of lethargic at times today and we weren't really executing the way I'd like," Bosworth said. "We'll go back to the drawing board and tweak things a little bit and hopefully get things where we want them."

Besides Sheehan, who is averaging more than 20 points per game, three other players hit double figures for Grant - Garrett Olsen had 12 points while Shane Richardson and AJ Spohr each had 10.

Round Lake also got 10 points apiece from Lennox Davis and Jake Paulsen. Paulsen is just a sophomore who was brought up to the varsity last week.