Tough outcome for Grayslake Central
As he left his home floor at Grayslake Central for the last time ever Tuesday night, senior guard Jordan Taylor got loud cheers, a standing ovation and the shoulder of assistant coach Rico Ellis.
Taylor buried his head into Ellis, needing the shoulder to cry on, and to perhaps hold him up.
If ever a player "left it all out on the floor," it was Taylor in this sectional semifinal against top-seeded North Chicago.
A starter at Grayslake Central for three years, Taylor didn't want his career to end, and he played like it, relentlessly and tirelessly finding ways to score when everyone else wearing green seemed stymied.
But Taylor's inspiring career- and game-high 35-point performance wasn't quite enough to lift No. 4 Grayslake Central past North Chicago. The Warhawks used their depth, balance and speed to run away with a 77-62 victory in the Class 3A sectional semifinal at Grayslake Central.
North Chicago, which moves to 22-6 on the season, will face the winner of today's semifinal between Ridgewood and Lakes on Friday at Grayslake Central for the sectional title. The Warhawks are gunning for their second straight trip downstate.
"It hurts right now. It's like someone ripped my heart out. I wanted to go so much further than this," said Taylor, who scored 13 of his team's 20 total field goals and 28 more points than Grayslake Central's next highest scorer, which was senior center Casey Boyle with 7 points. "I felt like I left it all on the court. I was just trying to be aggressive and get everyone on the same page. I was hoping that by scoring like I did that would spark everyone else, but I just didn't get as much help as I needed today."
Credit North Chicago for much of that.
The Warhawks made life uncomfortable for Grayslake Central from the start. They went right at Boyle in the paint and got him into early foul trouble. Teammate Sayvonte McWilliams, a senior starter at guard, also had problems with fouls. Meanwhile, North Chicago kicked up the tempo to a frenzied pace that Grayslake Central often couldn't keep up with.
The Rams, who close out their season with a 21-9 record, were down by as many as 14 points in the first half.
"The key difference was that we had a lot of guys off the bench who stepped it up," North Chicago coach Gerald Coleman said.
With Grayslake Central trailing by only 9 points early in the third quarter, the Warhawks scored 14 points in what seemed like the blink of an eye to extend their lead to 20 points. During that span, they scored on 3 dunks, including two crowd-pleasing alley-oops, and on 2 layups off of turnovers.
"We figured if we could run, they (Grayslake Central) wouldn't be able to catch up with us. That's our game-to run," said North Chicago senior guard and Illinois State signee Aaron Simpson, who led his team with 23 points, a bit below his 31-point scoring average that at times topped the state scoring list this season. "We know that if we want to get downstate again we have to run."
North Chicago's frenetic pace isn't the only thing that kept Simpson running, though. He often got matched up against Taylor, and had to chase him all over the floor.
"Man, he gave me a workout," Simpson said of Taylor, who rolled up 4 three-pointers along the way. "It was like there was nothing you could do but try to contain him (Taylor) as best you could. He played his butt off today. I had to really work on defense. Had to."
Simpson didn't have to work quite as hard as Taylor did on the offense end.
The Warhawks got much better balance, putting a total of four players in double-figures. Besides Simpson, JaVairius Amos-Mays scored 14 points, including two thunderous dunks, Kurt Hall had 11 points and Marzhon Bryant finished with 10 points for North Chicago.
"It's tough (to win without balance)," said Grayslake Central coach Brian Moe, whose next highest scorers after Taylor and Boyle were Sean Geary and Tyler Smith, each of whom had 6 points. "They (North Chicago) did a nice job. They took us out of a lot of what we wanted to do. They got us in foul trouble attacking the basket early.
"But Jordan did a great job. He has (put us on his back) for three years. We've always known he could take over games and he did a good job of that. Tonight we needed him because no one else was really stepping up. He put us on his back and kept us as close and as much in it as we ever were."