Rams' better-than-expected season rolls on

With their boys basketball team about to complete a season sweep of its cross-town rival, Grayslake Central's fans started chanting, "Jahr'-y," "Jahr'-y."

Senior Jahr'y Johnson, who couldn't play on this night, played along for a second. He jumped off his seat on the bench and, with a wide smile, took one step and acted as if he were going to jog to the scorer's table.

Sure, the Rams are having fun.

They finished the home portion of their season Saturday night by defeating Grayslake North 63-50 to move within one win of 20. It was their eighth victory in a row, keeping them in first place in the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division.

But while coach Tim Bowen says his team, which went 9-19 last season, exceeded the expectations he and his staff had for it "a long time ago," the Rams are far from satisfied.

"I definitely think we had high expectations (coming into the season)," senior guard Mike Davis said. "We knew we could be good, but I don't know if we knew we could be this good. But the season's not over. Nothing's done yet. We still have two more games left for conference. We want to win conference outright and then see how far we can go in regionals and sectionals."

Grayslake Central (19-5, 7-1) visits Prairie Ridge on Tuesday and Huntley on Friday. The Rams beat Prairie Ridge by 23 points earlier this month and Huntley by 10 points on Valentine's Day.

Huntley (16-8, 6-2) is a game back of the Rams.

"It's not over with yet," Bowen said. "Huntley's a good ballclub. It's going to come down to that last game of the year, if we can handle Prairie Ridge. Prairie Ridge just beat up on a couple of teams the last couple of nights."

Grayslake Central executed its game plan against Grayslake North (7-17, 2-6) almost perfectly. The Knights jumped out to a 6-2 lead thanks to three-point plays from Rollin Idlas (12 points) and Clay Henricksen (game highs of 15 points, 7 rebounds), but the Rams responded.

They hit 8 of 10 shots in the opening quarter and led 18-10. They then did what they like to do -- maintain possession of the ball, force their opponent to defend, and patiently look to get to the basket.

Said Bowen: "We feel that if we get a lead, with the guards that we got, we can do a lot of stuff like that and force teams to play us a little bit higher, a little bit wider, and maybe we can get to the basket a little easier."

Grayslake Central led 29-21 at halftime, then opened the second half with an 8-0 run. The Knights, who were playing their fourth game in five nights, never recovered.

The Rams got balanced scoring, as has been the case most of this season. Alex Anderson and Mike Brumm led them with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Andrew Sipes added 9, while Jared Zygmunt and Davis each had 8. Kevin O'Rourke chipped in 7.

Seniors Davis, Zygmunt and Pete Toth (4 points) all started in their final home game.

"It's probably been the best season of my life," Zygmunt said. "We're like a family. It's a great team. We're all about defense. On offense we run our motion and get things done."