Boys basketball: Wauconda’s furious rally sinks Grayslake Central

Wauconda saved its best for last.

Trailing 44-36 with 2:25 left in the game, the host Bulldogs scored the final 11 points to pull out a 47-44 victory in a Northern Lake Conference game Wednesday night.

"The motto of this team is to never give up," said Wauconda coach Ty Weidner. “This is a resilient group. We got the game at our tempo in the last quarter. We want to go up and down the court. We are dangerous when we play our tempo. This is a big win in the conference for us. On defense, we used some traps to get the tempo going.”

Wauconda moves to 12-5 overall and 6-0 in the conference while Grayslake drops to 11-6 and 5-1 in the NLCC.

A putback by Carson Woods gave the Rams an 8-point lead before the Bulldogs’ valiant comeback.

Tony Salemi scored 6 points including 4-of-5 from the free throw line while Austin Carlson scored 5 points as the Bulldogs rallied for the 3-point win.

Salemi led the winners with 21 points including a 3-pointer and was 8-of-10 from the free throw line.

"We practice being mentally tough," said Salemi. “The game came to me. This is a huge win.”

Wauconda, losing 21-8 early in the second quarter, outscored the Rams 20-7 to end the half.

The game was tied 28-28 at halftime.

Alex Ortega scored all 9 of his points in the second quarter for the Bulldogs.

"Alex really gave us a boost in the second quarter," said Weidner. “He is one of our leaders."

Woods led the Rams with 12 points while Cole Halverson scored 10 and Cordell Johnson tallied 8 with 5 rebounds.

The Bulldogs defense held the Rams to 16 points in the second half.