Grayslake North rallies past Grayslake Central

What happened to the 12-point lead that Grayslake Central's boys basketball team enjoyed?

Grayslake North junior guard Ryan Connolly had an answer.

"Our defensive intensity picked up," Connolly said. "And from that we got a lot easy breakaways."

Grayslake North finished enough of them to capture a 66-62 win over visiting Grayslake Central in a Northern Lake County Conference opener Saturday night. Connolly had 21 points and 6 rebounds, as the Knights improved to 4-2 overall.

At the four-minute mark of the second quarter, Grayslake Central was up 34-22. Rams guard Antonio Crews had 16 first-half points.

"Crews is a great point guard," Connolly said.

"Crews is really tough," Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh added.

On a dunk from Connolly, the Grayslake Central lead had vanished. After three quarters, the hosts were up 50-48.

On a Cody Moe 3-pointer, the game was tied at 53-53 with four minutes to play. That's just about when Grayslake North's Jason Donohue was warming up. He sank three 3-pointers, two of them coming in the fourth, and finished with 12 points.

Donohue's last 3 gave the Knights a 59-53 lead with less than two minutes to play.

"I wanted to take open shots," Donohue said. "We really grew up in this game."

Connolly calmly knocked down 7 free throws in the final quarter.

"This was our best team win of the year," Grunloh said. "I'm so proud of these kids. ... Our subs were phenomenal. We went to a little delay late in the game."

Crews led Grayslake Central (2-4) with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Moe backed him up with 18 points.