Granville, Grayslake Central rally from 15 down for share of NLCC title

Xavi Granville turned the Grayslake Central fieldhouse into a block party Tuesday night.

The 6-foot-4 junior preserved his tiebreaking 2 free throws with his fifth blocked shot with two seconds left. Then Granville grabbed the ball and dribbled toward an onrushing student section as the Rams claimed their share of the Northern Lake County Conference boys basketball title with a dramatic 49-47 victory over Wauconda.

"Clutch," said Rams senior point guard Eric Brum.

"We never gave up," Granville said of the Rams' comeback from a 15-point second-quarter deficit. "We deserve it."

The wild finish was fitting to the wild race that put the defending co-champion Rams (20-9, 11-3) atop the first three-way title tie in the NLCC's eight-year history. Lakes (14-15, 11-3) also repeated with a 54-34 win at Grant and Antioch (14-16, 11-3) wrapped up its first conference title in 43 years with a 72-21 win over Round Lake.

"We had a rough patch at the beginning and had to claw back," said Rams senior Jayden Hall, who had 15 points and three 3-pointers. "It was a team effort with me, Xavi, Chris (Jaimes), Eric, Cayden (Woods), we all stepped up when it was needed and did what we had to to get the win."

A tense final quarter saw Wauconda (16-13, 10-4) tie it at 47-47 with 30 seconds left when senior Braeden Carlsen (17 points) turned an off-balance left-hand drive down the lane into a 3-point play as Granville picked up his fourth foul. Then Granville (14 points, 8 rebounds) was fouled with 9.5 seconds left as he started a drive and he calmly hit 2 free throws for the decisive points in the Rams' 13th conference crown.

"I've been in that situation many times and it felt normal," Granville said. "Shooting free throws is no different in an empty gym or packed gym. I stepped to the line and did what I do."

Central called time and Wauconda inbounded to Carlsen on the run against Granville. Carlsen raced to the baseline but his shot was knocked away by Granville.

"I felt the execution was there," said Wauconda coach Ty Weidner of the final play.

"Since I had 4 fouls I knew I had to be careful and he's a great shooter," Granville said. "I figured I could give him a step or two (and recover) but I didn't want to let him shoot a 3 or get to the cup."

Wauconda raced to a 30-15 lead 3:50 before halftime as Cayden Mudd hit three 3s and scored all 13 of his points and Carlsen had 9. The Bulldogs had 6 assists and scored 16 points off 9 turnovers.

In the first meeting, the Rams couldn't recover from an early 17-0 run and lost 66-48.

"I'm really proud of them," said Central coach Brian Centella. "At Wauconda I felt we lost our poise a little bit. This time we kept our composure."

Aayan Siddiqui scored all 5 of his points in a methodical 11-point run capped by a rebound basket by Jaimes (10 points, 11 rebounds) with 5:16 left in the third.

"We were able to get stops and played amazing D," Brum said.

"We were moving the basketball early," Weidner said. "We tried to emphasize at halftime getting the ball inside and keep playing inside out but we weren't moving the ball as much."

Central took its first lead at 38-36 and had a pair of 4-point leads but Wauconda answered as Tyler Tylka (11 points, 10 rebounds) hit a 3 and a tough 3-point play to make it 44-44 at 1:14. Hall responded with a right-wing 3 at 0:55 to set up the final big plays from Carlsen and Granville.

"That's what you look for when you're playing basketball," Brum said. "A big-time crowd where it's back-and-forth. It was fun, especially since we were able to come away with the W."

And one of three NLCC title trophies.