N. Chicago finds strength in numbers at Grant

Facing a 31-point shortfall before even stepping off the bus, the North Chicago boys basketball team was in a bit of a pickle Friday night.

The Warhawks were tagged with the challenge of playing a surging Grant team in a key North Suburban Conference Prairie game without one of the most prolific scorers in the state, Division I gem Aaron Simpson, who has signed with Illinois State.

The senior guard was relegated to sweats on the bench so that he could serve a one-game suspension for a violation of team policy. His 31-point scoring average has at times led the entire state of Illinois.

Talk about a bit of void to fill.

But the determined way in which the Warhawks compensated for Simpson's absence almost made it seem like he was on the floor too, filling up the stat sheet as normal.

North Chicago started slow, but turned on the jets and ramped up the defensive pressure to run Grant out of its own gym. The Warhawks, up just 30-26 at halftime, built second-half leads as big as 23 points and wound up cruising to an 81-70 victory.

Momentum shifted North Chicago's way immediately after halftime, thanks to a 21-6 run at the start of the third quarter that was facilitated by 9 Grant turnovers.

Incessantly harassed by pressure all over the court, the Bulldogs rolled up 27 turnovers on the game.

"Aaron has a big impact on this team. He carries us, and when we heard he wasn't playing, we all knew we had to step up our games. As a senior, that's what I was thinking," said North Chicago forward Kevante Curry, who scored 18 points and was one of four players in double-figures for the Warhawks. "We did really good as a team. We came together.

"I think we were a little nervous at first, which is why we weren't really playing like we know we can in the first half. But we knew we had to prove to everyone that we can also play without Aaron Simpson."

Joining Curry in double-figures was senior forward Marzhon Bryant, who tallied a team-high 20 points. JaVairius Amos-Mays had 18 points and Kurt Hall finished with 12 points. Tyrone Linder followed closely behind with 9 points.

"Simpson has been our leader for so long and by him not being there, I think we didn't play very well in the first half because the guys weren't used to not having him on the court," said North Chicago coach Gerald Coleman, whose team moves to 14-3 overall and 8-0 in the Prairie. "But when they got used to it and realized he wasn't coming in at all, I thought they played well.

"We finally got to see our guys get some confidence. You know, if Simpson gets hurt or if he gets in foul trouble, they know now that they can do it. So many times, our guys will just stand and watch Aaron because they're used to him putting them on his back. But tonight, they had to go out and get it done themselves and they did."

This wasn't a shocker for Grant coach Wayne Bosworth.

He was excited at the prospect of catching the defending Prairie Division champions without their top player. But he also knew it wouldn't be a free ride.

"They have other players who are great players. They have four other (starters) who can play above the rim and are some of the quickest guys in Lake County," Bosworth said. "Simpson makes them a contender for a Class 3A state championship. But even without Simpson, they're a team that can still get downstate and make a run in the 3A tournament.

"They've got great players on that team, with or without him."

The Bulldogs (13-7, 4-4 Prairie) were able to reel the crowd back into the game by cutting their deficit to as few as 9 points late in the fourth quarter. But the key word there is "late." Grant, which got a game-high 23 points out of senior forward Jared Helmich, 15 points from senior guard Allen Lewis and 10 points from senior guard Sean Wells, simply ran out of time to get any further over the hump.

"When we saw Simpson not dressed, we thought we had a really good opportunity," said Helmich, who keyed Grant's late rally with 10 fourth-quarter points. "But they've got a really good team, some good players who really stepped up.

"We knew they had a couple guys like that, we just didn't know they had so many. They're going to go pretty far."