It's a battle to the finish at Grayslake Central
A couple of plays after Johnsburg center CJ Fiedorowicz emphatically swatted a shot by Grayslake Central forward Kevin O'Rourke into the stands, the two lined up next to each other in the lane for a free throw and seemed to share a chuckle about it.
Fiedorowicz almost looked apologetic.
Later, Grayslake Central guard Mike Brumm and a couple of guards from Johnsburg, including a hot-shooting Mike Dixon, seemed to be enjoying some small talk while standing just past the top of the key during a free throw.
Friendly banter was certainly flowing in Grayslake on Friday night.
Until, that is, something very, very unfriendly happened.
With 2:53 left in an intense, back-and-forth tug of war, all "you-know-what" broke loose.
It started with some poor sportsmanship, which was followed by a shove in the back. Then, a punch was thrown and within seconds an all-out, bench-clearing brawl ensued in which even the Grayslake Central student section was involved.
The fracas happened right in front of the students.
When the dust cleared, double flagrant technical fouls were assessed, a player from each team was ejected, each head coach was required to remain seated for the rest of the game and the Grayslake Central student fans were prohibited from using the first several rows of bleachers so that they would no longer be hovering right over the court.
Play eventually resumed and somehow Johnsburg regained just enough composure to escape with a 64-62 Fox Valley Conference Fox Division road win.
The victory moves Johnsburg to 14-11 overall and 5-3 in the Fox Division. Grayslake Central drops to 17-8 and 5-3 in the Fox.
"We knew (the end of the game) was going to be hectic and we just had to keep our poise. We hit some big-time shots and free throws at the end," said Dixon, who scored a game-high 24 points for the Skyhawks. "We knew that we had to just keep playing to the end because every time we play (Grayslake Central) it's back and forth like this.
"We've always had a good rivalry with them. A lot of guys know each other and get a long and guys were talking to each other and everything was fine but then things turned and everything broke loose."
The trouble started after a foul was called and Brumm emphatically clapped long and hard in the direction of Johnsburg guard Nick Kiessel. Kiessel then shoved Brumm in the back and threw a punch that hit nothing but air. That's when the benches cleared.
Both Brumm and Kiessel were ejected and will be forced to miss their next scheduled game, per IHSA rules.
The Rams could have used Brumm in the closing minutes.
A senior point guard, Brumm is their floor leader, top ball-handler and a three-point shooting specialist. He finished with 13 points.
"I was being kind of a poor sport by clapping in (Kiessel's) face. He got mad, turned around and swung at me and missed and it kind of broke out from there," said Brumm who says he's never been involved in anything of this nature. "It's definitely not a good thing. I felt kind of like I let the team down a little bit."
But Josh Rappaport and Alex Anderson came through for the Rams. Rappaport scored a team-high 21 points, including 13 in the second half. He hit a jumper at the free throw line that brought Grayslake Central to within a single point (63-62) with 16.8 seconds left.
Anderson, meanwhile, finished with 15 points, including 3 three-pointers.
"We were a little rattled and they were rattled (after the brawl), but we were able to fight back and get back to within one," Rappaport said. "We just weren't able to close out. We had our chance but they stopped us.
Grayslake Central had the ball down 64-62 with 6.3 seconds left. But a play drawn up for Rappaport never developed and a driving layup by reserve Cameron Nelson was well off the mark.
Johnsburg also got double-figures from Tyler Chambers and Fiedorowicz, who tallied 16 and 12 points respectively. Chambers drained 4 three-pointers.