Helmich leads Grant’s victory
The hosts wasted little time in seizing control of the final contest of Day 1 at Grant’s holiday tournament.
The Bulldogs outscored Round Lake 18-5 in the second quarter and rolled from there to a 53-28 win.
The win was the third in four games for Grant (6-4). Round Lake falls to 3-8.
“I think one thing we have done well as of late is move the ball,” Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. “I thought our big guys moved very will without the ball and Sean (Wells) and (Allen) Lewis did a great job getting the ball inside.”
Wells and Lewis had one big target that dominated the low-post in senior Jared Helmich. He scored 12 of his game-high 18 points in the first half as the Bulldogs built a 29-11 lead at intermission.
“For us it still comes down to being able to make shots and execute on offense,” Round Lake coach Jimmy Roberts said. “We know that we can defend well and take care of the ball, but it comes down to making shots when you get your chance, and we struggled.”
Round Lake hit on just 11 of 42 from the field but still was able to get the game within 42-28 early in the fourth quarter. A long 3-pointer by Juddon Carter (6 points) brought the Panthers as close as they had been all night. But the hosts had an answer.
Grant scored the next 8 points including a pair of Helmich buckets and the lead never dropped below 20 the rest of the way.
“I called a timeout there when we got it to 14 then I called another a few minutes later and it was 20 again,” Roberts said. “It goes in spurts, when we miss a couple it seems like everyone struggles.”
Helmich and his teammates, meanwhile, were red-hot from the start. The Bulldogs nailed their first 5 shots of the second quarter to build on an already big lead. Wells contributed 9 of his 15 points in the quarter and Lewis added 11 to go with his 6 assists.
“I don’t know how many assists we had versus turnovers, but I thought the guys did an excellent job of taking care of the ball tonight,” Bosworth said. “You can see the chemistry the last few games starting to come together.”
Junior Mark Jennings led the Panthers in scoring with 12 points.