Grayslake Central looming large
No one looks down at Grayslake Central's boys basketball team.
Not when the Rams feature 6-foot-8 Casey Boyle, 6-6 C.J. Stempeck, 6-5 Sean Kirby and 6-5 Tim Abbott. Heck, even coach Brian Moe stands 6-6.
Still, the Rams have been feeling small this season. Which happens when you start 0-3 and reach the midway point of the season still sporting a losing record.
"Before (Tuesday's) game (against Grayslake North), I told the guys in the room that we haven't really earned respect from anyone yet, even in the school," Boyle said. "Not many people thought that we were a good team. We just had to come out here and show the whole town and our school that we're here and we're to stay."
Take a good look at the Rams. Just don't strain your neck while looking skyward.
Grayslake Central pulled away in the second half to beat visiting Grayslake North 63-49, giving the Rams four wins in their last five games.
They improved to 6-8 overall and 2-1 in the Fox Valley Fox Division, while dropping the Knights to 10-4 and 2-1.
It appears Grayslake Central's schedule which includes losses to Mundelein, Bartlett, Glenbard East and North Chicago is paying off.
"People make a lot out of your record," Moe said. "The one thing I tell our kids is, we play a pretty brutal tournament schedule. Mundelein is a pretty good (Thanksgiving) tournament. Bartlett is going to win a lot of games and Mundelein is probably the second-best team in the North Suburban (Conference). Which is saying a lot because Warren might be the best team on the planet right now. Glenbard East is a top-seven team in the Chicago area."
Against Grayslake North, Grayslake Central's big guys played big. While 5-7 Jordan Taylor led the Rams with 18 points, the trio of Boyle, Stempeck and Abbott combined for 36 points.
"They help me out all the time, setting ball screens," Taylor said. "I love the pick-and-roll game. Once we get our big men (involved) in the game, everything is so much easier. They can look out, kick out, and shots are open all day."
Starters Stempeck and Boyle had 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Abbott came off the bench to score 9 points and grab a team-high 6 rebounds.
"We need some role players to start stepping up," Abbott said. "With Casey, C.J. and I the three big guys really what we're looking for in our offense is for (the ball) to come into us and then back out to our guards."
"We got a good rotation going with me, Tim and C.J.," Boyle said. "We're pretty much all equal. The rotation works very well because we get a quick breather and then come back in."
Grayslake North had trouble from the start defending Boyle, Stempeck and Abbott and fell behind 18-8 after one quarter. The Knights got back into the game thanks to Teddy Ludwick (game-high 19 points), whose 10 second-quarter points had the visitors within 26-25 by halftime.
"Teddy started getting hot and shooting NBA 3s," Taylor said. "He's a pure shooter."
Despite Grayslake North taking a brief lead late in the first half, Knights coach Todd Grunloh thought his team's slow start took its toll.
"We're not quite as deep as them," Grunloh said. "We can't play 10-12 deep. We play seven, maybe eight. You can't really get down like that with our depth and expect to put yourself in the best position to win."
Grayslake Central kept expanding its lead after halftime, with Taylor knocking down a 3-pointer and scoring 7 points in the third in helping the Rams outscore the Knights 18-10. Boyle punctuated the win with a breakaway dunk in the final minute of the game.
A.J. Fish added 10 points for the Knights, while Ludwick finished with three 3s.
"We spent literally eight minutes at halftime talking about the adjustments to the bigs," Grunloh said. "We didn't deserve to win. We didn't pressure."
<div id="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=417880">Images: Grayslake Central vs. Grayslake North <span class="date">[01/11/11]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>