Mateling matters for Grayslake North
On Grayslake North’s first two possessions of Saturday’s nonconference game against visiting Antioch, junior guard Danny Mateling coolly knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers.
In a nutshell, that’s why Mateling was promoted to the varsity as a sophomore at the end of last season.
The Knights’ offense had gotten stagnant and needed the kind of instant pick-me-up that a pure shooter can provide.
“Coach told me they needed more scoring and that’s why he was bringing me up,” Mateling said. “I came off the bench and was up for the tournament, too. The coaches told me I’d be getting a lot more playing time this year.”
Mateling, now a starter and a player who barely leaves the floor, made the most of his minutes against Antioch.
He kept pace with his scorching efficiency on the first two possessions and scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first half (on 6-of-8 shooting) to set the tone for Grayslake North’s 55-44 win over Antioch.
The Knights run their winning streak to three games in a row and are now 5-2 on the season. Antioch, which was down by 11 points at the end of the first quarter and by as many as 14 overall, drops to 1-8. The Sequoits have lost five games in a row.
“That’s pretty typical (of Mateling),” Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. “I was just shocked he didn’t score more in the second half. He’s such a great shooter. You could tell that on the first two possessions of the game when he made the back-to-back 3s.
“Over the summer, we really pushed him. We wanted to make sure he worked on attacking the basket more and he did that. He can shoot and get to the basket. He also plays defense and he’s just a great kid to coach. Even though he’s just a junior, he’s the kind of kid who other kids follow.”
The Knights did follow Mateling’s lead in the first quarter and ran out to a 15-4 lead. Junior guard AJ Fish contributed 5 early points to the cause. Grayslake North kept the pedal down and took a 28-18 lead into the locker room. The lead held steady and was at 9 points heading into the fourth quarter.
But Antioch, which looked completely out of sorts in the first half, never checked out.
The Sequoits chipped and chipped away with free throws and tough defense and suddenly found themselves back in the game with about two minutes left.
Antioch had held Grayslake North scoreless for nearly four minutes midway through the fourth quarter and was down by just 6 points (46-40) with 1:44 to play.
Senior forward Karl Nettgen, who finished with a team-high 15 points, scored 5 points in the fourth quarter.
“We’re taking all the positives we can out of anything,” Nettgen said. “We just want to win. We have the desire to win. I was just trying to get in there and get rebounds and do the dirty work.”
The Sequoits could never get closer than the 6 points, though.
Grayslake North closed the game by hitting free throws to pull away. The Knights canned 6-of-8 free throws in the fourth quarter, including a 4-for-4 performance at the line by Fish.
Fish finished with 14 points.
“We had a huge hole early and we’ve been doing that every game,” said Antioch coach Jim White, who also got 10 points out of junior guard Anthony Formella. “We can’t do that to ourselves because we have a hard time scoring. It’s an uphill battle. Sometimes we fold in that situation, but I’ve got to give it to my guys, tonight, we did not.”