Grayslake North leis it on the line

It was Hawaiian Night at Grayslake North on Friday and many of the student fans got into the spirit. Some wore grass skirts. Others wore leis.

The host Knights also played along.

They got hot, hot, hot.

Six days after a loss to Johnsburg in which their field goal percentage in the first half was a putrid 10 percent, the Knights turned up the heat Hawaiian-style.

Grayslake North shot a relatively scorching 54 percent from the field in the second half to break up a close game and get a 63-49 nonconference victory over rival Lakes.

With the victory, the Knights break a five-game losing streak, avenge a holiday tournament loss to Lakes and improve to 7-10. Lakes, which loses to Grayslake North for the first time in the four-game series, drops to 8-12.

The two schools are considered rivals because many of their students go to grade school and junior high together.

"Coach (Todd Grunloh) said it's not a rivalry until we get a win. We finally got one so now it's a rivalry," junior guard Matt Pucher said. "I thought it all started with our defense, but we also shot the ball pretty well.

"The game against Johnsburg, we were so slow. We held the ball for a minute or two at a time and we couldn't get anything going. Today it was totally different."

Grayslake North passed the ball well and kept its offense moving. According to Grunloh, the Knights also screened better than they have all season.

"Things just kind of opened up a lot more for us tonight," Grunloh said. "And after starting that Johnsburg game 1-for-20 from the field, I think we were due for some makes."

The odds certainly worked in Pucher's favor.

He rolled up a game-, season- and career-high 23 points, which included 3 three-pointers. He hit a monster three-pointer and knocked down a pair of free throws in a late third-quarter run that helped put the game firmly in the Knights' control

With the score tied at 31, Grayslake North ended the quarter with a 12-0 run.

Lakes would never get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

"(Grayslake North) played good team basketball and we played a one-on-one game," Lakes coach Brian Phelan said. "Team will beat one-on-one any day. Some of our players played out of character. We didn't play to our strengths."

Grayslake North also got 18 points out of senior guard Grant Henricksen.

Lakes' only double-figure scorer was John Androus. He finished with 16 points but netted only three field goals.

The Knights, who continually rotated in new defenders to keep a fresh pair of legs on Lakes' leading scorer, considered that a defensive victory. Junior reserve guard Willie Pitts made life particularly difficult for Androus.

"We rotated kids in on Androus who don't often play much, but we wanted to give him different looks. And because we got into foul trouble in the first half, we played a lot of other reserves, probably 12 or 13 guys in the first half alone," Grunloh said. "I told the kids there's never been a game in which we played more as a team than tonight."