Hampshire makes its own statement at Grayslake North
One wore neon-yellow shorts and socks.
Another fan had donned a hot-pink T-shirt for Saturday night’s Hampshire-Grayslake North boys basketball game at Grayslake North.
Several others in the home student section sported lime-green threads.
All were loud — fashion-wise.
But Hampshire’s Whip-Purs produced the brightest spot of all Saturday night, and it took place on the court in their 54-52 Fox Valley Fox victory.
With the score tied 52-52 with 15.9 seconds left, after Grayslake North senior guard Mark Hall had netted 2 of 3 free throws, Hampshire inbounded the ball after a North timeout.
Hampshire senior guard Brock Ralphs then dished a textbook pick-and-roll bounce pass to 6-foot-6 classmate Tyler Watzlawick, who plopped in the game-winner down low with 3.9 seconds remaining.
The final buzzer sounded before the hosts could launch a shot at the other end.
“It works,” Ralphs said of the pick and roll, the second time Hampshire has used such a play to clinch a win this winter.
Watzlawick toiled productively Saturday night, pouring in a team-high 18 points to go with 8 rebounds. Post mate Shane Hernandez, a 6-6 junior, finished with 17 points and 9 boards.
“Their bigs are tough … finish everything,” said Knights junior guard A.J. Fish, who came up big (19 points, 7 rebounds) and struck for 9 of North’s 16 third-quarter points.
“That (Watzlawick), he can do it all,” he added.
Hampshire’s 3-2 zone defense, deployed at the start of the fourth quarter, did some damage as well.
“It took away the momentum we had,” said Knights coach Todd Grunloh, whose club (10-6, 4-1 in the FV Fox) had entered the game on a five-game winning streak. “It slowed us down, took us out of our rhythm a bit.”
Hampshire (10-8, 3-2) led only once (14-13) in the first half, trailed 27-24 at the break and fell behind 40-32 at 3:48 of the third quarter. The Fish tale, all true, from the 3:56 mark to 3:48: Fish got fouled after making a basket, missed the ensuing free three throw, grabbed the rebound, made the putback.
Four points in … eight seconds.
“That Fish kid is as athletic of a kid as I’ve seen,” said Whip-Purs coach Bob Barnett. “That team shoots wells, is athletic.
“It presents a lot of problems for opponents,” he added.
Hampshire’s first-half shooting, in a word: problematic. But Ralphs and junior guard Tyler Crater hit back-to-back treys at the start of the final frame, turning a 43-39 deficit into a 45-43 edge.
Ralphs (10 points, 5 rebounds) nailed another 3-pointer, at 0:55, to put the visitors up 52-48.
Barnett’s bunch hung on from there.
“We played a lot better in the second half than we did in the first,” Barnett said. “We didn’t panic. Earlier in the year, had we had the foul trouble we had tonight, our guys would have dropped their heads, sulked. Not tonight.
“We’re growing, getting better.”
Knights junior guard Danny Mateling finished with 9 points and delivered a couple of slick assists; senior teammate Ben Guhl, a 6-7 center, scored 8 points and grabbed 7 boards; and Hall collected 3 steals — 2 in the game’s first minute — and scored all 6 of his points after the break.