Grayslake North's defense stunts Lakes

The count reached 14.

That's how many defensive stops Grayslake North got in a row Tuesday night against Lakes.

The streak started in the second quarter and continued into the third.

“We had one of our coaches on the bench keeping track,” Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. “We were telling the kids, ‘Why stop at 14?'”

As it turned out, the Knights' streak did stop at 14 because Lakes finally scored a bucket in the third quarter. Nick Hibbing's 3-pointer for Lakes put an end to the counting.

Not that Grayslake North really needed to keep the streak going. The Knights had already done plenty of damage with their defense.

Hibbing's 3-pointer was Lakes' only points of the third quarter. By the time he hit it, Grayslake North owned a 12-point lead that ultimately paved the way for a 54-41 victory on the third day of the Grant holiday tournament.

Grayslake North, which was down by a point (26-25) at halftime but reeled off the first 13 points of the third quarter and outscored Lakes 15-3 overall, improves to 7-3 on the season.

Lakes drops to 3-9.

“Coach (Grunloh) is always preaching that defense wins games and that you have to work hard to get one stop at a time,” Grayslake North senior guard Teddy Ludwick said. “I thought that everyone really picked up the effort on the defensive end.”

Meanwhile, Ludwick was picking up the pace on the offensive end. He scored 9 of Grayslake North's 15 third-quarter points and finished with 16 points for the game.

Center David Sparks led the Knights with a game-high 18 points. He had his way inside against Lakes and also was active on the boards. The former third-string center who is now shining in a starting role pulled down 10 rebounds.

“I didn't play much last season but I played on a really good AAU team over the summer and it really helped me a lot,” Sparks said. “I worked really hard and I feel like I can be a pretty good player now.”

Sparks has been really good lately. Grunloh says he's been averaging about 15 points and 12 rebounds since Thanksgiving.

“David has been a ton to handle since then,” Grunloh said. “That's been nice for us. And it's not uncommon for Teddy to come through for us like he did tonight.”

Tanner Blain tried to come through for Lakes in the fourth quarter. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers that helped cut into an 11-point deficit.

Blain finished with a team-high 14 points. The Eagles also got double-figures from Jacob Brown. He added 10 points.

“(Grayslake North) played really good defense on us,” said Blain, who drained a total of 4 3-pointers. “They got in the passing lanes. It was hard for us to get around them and (the third quarter) was frustrating.

“But we also need to run our offense better. When we get out of our offense, that's when things change and we get in trouble.”

In the third quarter, Lakes missed 9 of 10 shot attempts.

“Grayslake North came out to play in that third quarter and we didn't,” Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. “They played hard, they were contesting our shots and we got complacent on offense.”