Grayslake North rings up record

Perhaps not satisfied with merely tying its own record for points in a game on Tuesday, the Grayslake North boys basketball team went out on Wednesday and did something about it.

Just like that, the Knights set a brand new record.

Using a tough, trapping defense to force Grant into turnovers that piled up fast, Grayslake North rolled up easy layup after easy layup en route to a breezy 88-69 victory in the final game of pool play of the Grant Holiday Tournament.

The 88 points Grayslake North put up on Grant beats its previous record for points in a game, which was tied in a 74-63 victory over Round Lake just about 24 hours before.

"This win was really good for the program," said Grayslake North junior guard Teddy Ludwick, who scored 19 points. "We came out really hard and strong. We really wanted to get into the third place game."

The Knights, who improve to 5-5, got their wish. They'll play McHenry at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday for third place. Johnsburg and Richmond-Burton will face off at 7 p.m in the championship game.

"We're trying to score as much as we can, we're trying to run as much as we can," said Grayslake North Matt Pucher, who did his share to keep the scoreboard operator busy. He scored a career-high 29 points. "The key for us is that we get our defense going to set up our offense."

The Knights did that to perfection in the second half.

Down by a manageable 9 points (37-28) at halftime, Grant fell deep into the abyss by failing to score for the first four minutes of the third quarter.

The Knights reeled off 12 unanswered points, scoring three buckets directly off of Grant turnovers.

The beginning of the fourth quarter started much the same. Grayslake North opened with a 13-8 run to go up 78-54. The 24-point margin tied its largest lead of the game.

"Grayslake North just played great, give them credit," said Grant coach Wayne Bosworth, whose team has dropped its last two games and is now 5-5. The Bulldogs will face Lakes at 4 p.m. Saturday in the tournament's fifth-place game. "We couldn't guard them in the half-court, we couldn't guard them in the transition and they created a lot of turnovers.

"I'm sure they scouted us the last couple games and (turnovers) have been our downfall. They took advantage of that and they got it done."

Grant staged a bit of a late comeback, thanks to some hot three-point shooting by senior forward Bill Khan, who knocked down 6 threes on the game and finished with a team-high 21 points.

In fact, when its lead was cut to 13 points with about three minutes to play, Grayslake North even put its starters back in to ensure that was as close as Grant got.

"We gave up way too many points and they got really hot and we had to put everyone back in," Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. "But otherwise, I was very impressed with what we did tonight.

"Before the game, we talked about how there was no way (Grant) could run with us for 32 minutes. They're more physical but we have more guards that we can run in and turn it into a track meet. It took some time, but by the second quarter, we got the tempo we wanted."

Besides Khan, Grant also got double-figures from guard Tommy Bronken, who scored 14 points on the toughest day of his life. The funeral for Bronken's older sister Christine, 20, was on Wednesday morning. She was killed last weekend in a snowmobiling accident in Wisconsin.

Lakes 44, Northridge Prep 38: At Grant, sophomore Tanner Blain paved the way to Lakes' third victory of the season by scoring a game-high 16 points. The Eagles (3-10) also got 12 points from John Androus. Robert Rey was the only player to reach double-figures for Northridge Prep. He finished with 10 points.

Richmond-Burton 64, Round Lake 38: At Grant, Richmond-Burton clinched a spot in Saturday's tournament championship game with the victory. Chad Okane and Kenneth Riordan scored 25 and 13 points respectively for the Rockets. Nick Lange led Round Lake with 11 points.

Johnsburg 54, McHenry 44: At Grant, Johnsburg punched its ticket into Saturday's tournament championship with the victory. The Skyhawks got 20 points from CJ Fiedorowicz and 11 and 10 points respectively from Mike Dombrowski and Mike Dixon. Josh McNaughton paced McHenry with 20 points while teammate Brian Madson added 13 points.