Brust's milestone ices Mundelein's win over Grayslake Central

Joining the "1,000-Point Club" was the icing on the cake.

It was what Ben Brust's 1,000th point meant in the context of Monday night's game against Grayslake Central that was much more meaningful to him.

Drilling a 3-pointer with about two minutes remaining, the Mundelein guard put his team ahead for the first time in a fourth quarter that saw Grayslake Central go up by as many as 8 points.

Brust hit his big shot, the home crowd went wild, the announcer alerted everyone about his career achievement and from then on, the Mustangs were invigorated. That energy seemed to carry them all the way to a 56-53 victory over Grayslake Central in the season opener for both teams at the Mundelein Thanksgiving Tournament.

"Actually, I didn't even know what was going on," Brust said about the hype surrounding his big shot, which gave Mundelein a 49-48 lead with 2:08 remaining.

"I couldn't tell what (the announcer) was saying. I didn't even find out about (the 1,000th point) until after the game. It was probably better that way because I didn't even think about it. I just kept playing."

That was a good thing, too. Mundelein needed more from Brust.

Grayslake Central turned around and immediately regained the lead on two Darius Dacanay free throws. But then Brust put Mundelein ahead for good (51-50) on a pretty move near the basket.

"We have a lot of things to work on," said Brust, who finished with a game-high 28 points on 3 three-pointers.

"But we have a chance to be a pretty good team."

Ditto for Grayslake Central, which wound up having a bittersweet night.

Senior guard Andrew Sipes, who started as a freshman and sophomore, played in his first game since suffering a season-ending knee injury at the Mundelein Thanksgiving Tournament last year.

He pumped in 11 points for the Rams and narrowly missed a last-second three-pointer just before the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime.

"It's satisfying just to be back," Sipes said. "But you're still going 'We should have won.' The good thing is, it is November."

The bad thing is, Grayslake Central senior center Josh Rappaport injured his knee in the fourth quarter. He left the game, returned for a minute or two, but then left again for good.

Rappaport scored 14 points on the night.

"It (the knee) kind of just got stuck in the ground," Rappaport said, who walked with a bit of a limp.

"But I can put weight on it. I think it should be fine. It probably wasn't a good idea to come back into the game. I'm going to meet (with doctors and trainers) back at school.

"It's disappointing to lose this one because I thought we had a really good shot to win it."

Mundelein's chances at a win were improved with the play of freshman guard Robert Knar, who hit several key 3-pointers en route to 12 points. Junior guard Leavon Head added 10 points for the Mustangs.