Boys basketball: Granville gets hyped, scores 21 in Grayslake Central’s win over Jacobs

Seeing his teammate hit the court in pain after his face caught a flying elbow made Grayslake Central guard Alex Granville want to win a basketball game even more.

“I thought for a second his nose was broken, but he was good,” Granville said of Rams forward Owen Perz, who got hit inadvertently by Jacobs forward Carson Goehring under the basket.

“[The intensity of the game] was just getting me hyped,” Granville said. “I was like, ‘I’m trying to win now.’ ”

A hyped-up Granville used his energy at both ends of the court to help Grayslake Central pull away from Jacobs on Tuesday on Day 3 of Jacobs’ Hinkle Holiday Classic in Algonquin.

Granville drained three 3-pointers in the second half and finished with 21 points, while Cole Halverson scored a game-high 22 points, as the Rams won 60-45.

Grayslake Central (9-4, 2-1 tournament) used a 21-2 run in the second half to earn a spot in the championship game of the consolation bracket at 1:30 p.m. Friday against Johnsburg.

Junior guard Elijah Bell scored the 1,000th point of his career for Jacobs (8-4, 1-2), which will play Boylan at noon Friday in the third-place game of the consolation bracket. Freshman Malachi Bell scored a team-high 14 points for the Golden Eagles, Jack Magee had 13 and Elijah Bell added 10.

Grayslake Central outscored Jacobs 17-9 in the third quarter and 21-14 in the fourth after the score was tied 22-all at halftime.

“We just didn’t play together [in the second half],” Magee said. “We always talk abut playing tough and together, and we didn’t execute in the second half. We couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”

Granville did score. He banked in a shot down low after a double-fake move to hike the Rams’ lead to 34-31 with 2:06 left in the third and ended the quarter with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the left wing, which he punctuated by double-pumping his arms.

The Rams took a 39-31 lead into the fourth and then scored the first 10 points of the quarter. Bell’s 3 with 5:33 left ended the run.

“We’ve struggled in the third quarter this year,” said Magee, who hit two of his three 3s in the second half. “We’ve lost like mostly every third quarter. [Coach Jimmy Roberts] wanted to get that point across [at halftime].”

Granville remained hyped in the fourth, knocking down two more 3-pointers.

“I was feeling it,” he said. “I was locked in.”

“He really got us momentum there in the fourth quarter to push us ahead and then finish the game out with a win,” Halverson said.

Andy Monzanga’s post-up basket put Grayslake Central up 30-29 with 3:43 left in third, less than a minute after Perz went to the bench holding his face.

Granville, who coach Brian Centella calls one of the best on-ball defenders in Lake County, shined defensively as well. He guarded Harvest Christian transfer Elijah Bell, who went scoreless in the middle quarters, after his jumper in the first quarter made him the 10th player in school history to score his 1,000th point in a Jacobs uniform.

Granville finished with three steals.

“I just like playing defense,” Granville said. “Anytime I’m doing good on defense, it just gets me going.”

The Rams forced Jacobs into four turnovers in the fourth and limited the Eagles to five shots before both coaches pulled their starters.

“I think our defense was very strong,” Halverson said.

“That second half was as well as we’ve played all season,” Centella said. “There have been times when we’ve been good offensively but maybe we’ve struggled defensively, or there have been times when we’ve been good defensively but have struggled offensively. I felt like we put it all together in that second half and played just a really good, clean half.”