Spohr scores but Grant falls short
Christmas turned out to be a wash for AJ Spohr in the gift department.
The Grant senior guard found a cool iPod under the tree, but he didn't get the one thing that topped his wish list: a berth in the championship game of the boys holiday basketball tournament that his school has hosted this week.
"That was the one thing I wanted for Christmas this year...and I didn't get it," Spohr said solemnly. "I got some good stuff, but that would have been the cherry on the top."
Spohr and the rest of the Bulldogs will have to settle for today's third-place game against Lakes. They dug themselves a gigantic hole early in Friday night's tilt against McHenry and, despite an inspired attempt at a comeback, could never quite climb out.
McHenry posted a 54-41 victory over Grant to advance to tonight's championship game (7 p.m.) against Northridge Prep. The Warriors, who improve to 5-4 after sending Grant to the third-place game (5 p.m.) for the second year in a row, set the tone from the tip. They outscored Grant 15-3 in the first quarter.
Grant hit just 1-of-8 field goals and coughed up the ball six times over the first eight minutes. The Bulldogs were laying a goose egg until the 3:16 mark when Garrett Olsen hit a single free throw. They didn't score their first field goal until Gilbert Sheehan hit a layup with 1:19 left.
"It's hard when you've got to come back like that," Spohr said. "Our mindset just wasn't there (early on). It was like no one came to play."
That changed once the first quarter ended.
The Bulldogs adjusted their full-court press, forced some turnovers and methodically cut into McHenry's lead. By the fourth quarter, they managed to come within six points twice - on a 3-pointer by Spohr and on a layup by Spohr, who finished with a game- and season-high 16 points.
Spohr's layup made the score 46-40 with less than three minutes to play.
But McHenry guard Ryan Terrill quieted the giddy home crowd by answering with a three-pointer that pushed the lead back up to nine points (49-40) with 2:15 remaining.
It was a momentum killer for the Bulldogs, who drop to 7-4 overall.
"I just happened to be open after we broke their press," said Terrill, who scored a team-high 15 points. "I was wide open for a three. My guy found me with a great pass and I was able to put it in.
"We were getting pretty nervous (as Grant rallied). They started getting more aggressive in their press and that was throwing us off. But our coaches got us settled down and we were able to keep our composure."
It wasn't easy. The Bulldogs forced McHenry into a total of 22 turnovers with a press that somehow got only more aggressive as the game wore on.
"I'm very pleased with the second, third and fourth quarters," said Grant coach Wayne Bosworth, who also got double figures out of Sheehan (10 points). "Our guys worked their butts off in those quarters. But McHenry worked their butts off in the first quarter, too, so give them credit. They came to play all night, we didn't.
"We came out really slow and McHenry took advantage of it. They played 32 minutes hard and we played 24 minutes hard. The majority of the time you can't win playing just 24."