New high for Grant's Gaylor

Jerry Gaylor's ceiling is high, and the way the Grant sophomore forward can soar, he might scrape it with his head yet.

Gaylor's season-best 22-point effort in Grant's 58-42 win over Wauconda on the final day of the Johnsburg/Richmond-Burton tournament in Richmond on Saturday included several athletic plays.

Take the start, for starters.

Gaylor opened the game by scoring on a runner and then sinking a 3-pointer to give Grant (2-2 in the tournament) a 5-0 lead.

Later, Wauconda's 6-foot-5 Eric Hartnett had a seemingly wide-open layup, only to see the 6-3 Gaylor come out of nowhere and swat the ball out of bounds.

Early in the third quarter, after the first of three 3-pointers by sophomore Kyle Ryan got Wauconda (2-2) within 30-17, Gaylor stole the ball and threw down a one-handed dunk.

"It was exciting," Gaylor said. "I always look for (the opportunities). When I get them, I just got to put them down."

It was Gaylor's second dunk. Against Marengo on Wednesday, he slammed an alley-oop pass from Shane Richardson.

Gaylor doesn't know how high he can jump.

"All I know is I can get my elbow above the rim," he said.

Gaylor was hitting shots from near the elbow against Wauconda, too.

He made the varsity as a freshman but missed a good portion of the season with an ankle injury. Now Grant is seeing what he can do.

"The athleticism is there," Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. "He's got a lot of potential. He jumps out of the gym. When he gets squared up and shoots that little midrange jumper, he can knock it down. We're just trying to make that a consistent type of thing instead of the off-balance type of stuff."

Gaylor finished 10 of 15 from the floor, and also had 4 rebounds and 4 steals. When he shot jumpers, he resembled the player Grant's coaches want to see every night.

"Usually I'm taking that shot really off balance, like catching it on the go and going sideways," Gaylor said. "Before the game, (Bosworth) was like, 'I was watching the game tapes, and when you square up, you're knocking it down every time.' So every time tonight I squared up and knocked it down."

Richardson, the junior point guard, and senior center Jeremy Wiker also had strong games against Wauconda. Richardson scored 14 points and snagged 5 steals, while Wiker posted a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Wiker hit all 4 of his shots (3 on putbacks) and all 4 of his free throws. Guard Tom Bronken had 4 steals.

Grant went 3-1 in the tournament last year, and Bosworth was hoping to at least duplicate that mark.

"We feel we have a more talented team this year than we did last year," said Bosworth, who played only six players against Wauconda, with guards Thomas Gier and Allen Lewis sidelined likely until January with knee injuries.

Ryan and Hartnett each scored 11 points for Wauconda, which turned the ball over 18 times through three quarters and trailed 45-33.

Wauconda had won its last two games.

"When we slow the game and play our pace, we have a chance," coach Scott Luetschwager said. "When teams speed the game up against us and put a little pressure on us, we break down a little bit."

Johnsburg 58, Grayslake North 41: At Richmond-Burton, the Skyhawks captured the tournament championship by winning the finale, while handing the Knights their second straight loss.

C.J. Fiedorowicz had 20 points, Mike Dixon added 18 and Derek Talbot chipped in 12 for the Skyhawks.

Grayslake North (2-2) was led by Matt Pucher and Teddy Ludwick (five 3-pointers) with 18 and 17 points, respectively.