Team-first approach suits Grayslake Central
There were no extraordinary individual performances Friday night for Grayslake Central.
But the Rams were certainly willing to make the extra pass on offense and the extra effort on the boards in order to snap out of a rough stretch with a 51-46 Fox Valley Conference boys basketball crossover victory over visiting Dundee-Crown.
"When we run our offense and get in our sets," said Central senior Michael Benko, "and focus and have good composure and take smart shots, that's when we're at our best."
Benko had 4 of the 7 first-half assists by the Rams (5-8) as they broke a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in their last nine games. Six-foot-5 David Llorens had a team-high 13 points and two powerful dunks in a decisive 17-5 second-half blitz and 6-3 junior Sam Ruhlmann had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists.
"We've shown it a lot in practice lately with smarter passing and good recognition," Llorens said. "We're at our best when we share the ball and we're running."
The extras were evident in the first two minutes when Benko got an offensive rebound and fed Llorens for a layup and Ruhlmann scored off a miss.
The Rams also got some extra help off the bench with two of their top reserves, Orande Fleming and David Kienzle, out with ankle injuries. Sophomore DeJon Goodman, senior Seth Graf, senior Griffin Shepley and junior Grant Hupp combined for 9 points and 5 rebounds.
"Those guys were great and some of them are guys who haven't seen a lot of playing time," said first-year Rams coach Kosta Kougias. "Dundee-Crown is a team that's going to score. You know (Kiwi) Seals is going to get his points."
Seals did score a game-high 22 points on 8-for-18 shooting for D-C (5-11) but Benko did his best to keep him from any sustained scoring streaks.
"I thought Michael did a great job," Kougias said.
"The kid is going to score," Llorens said.
But so did Llorens with 8 points in the second half. He scored six - with a two-hand dunk off a Ruhlmann feed and a powerful left-handed slam on a baseline drive - as the Rams extended a 26-25 lead to 43-30 with 4:28 to play.
"We know we can take time off the clock and we don't have to jack up a shot after the first pass," Benko said.
D-C had as many second-half turnovers as shots (11) before making a late push to get within 47-41 on Seals' 3 with 44 seconds left and 49-44 on freshman Jack Orndahl's 3 with 20 seconds to play.
Sam Buckley had 13 points and 8 rebounds but the Chargers were outrebounded 33-27 and shot 36.2 percent from the field (17-for-47) in their third straight loss.
"We just have a little problem with consistency and they hurt us on the glass," said D-C coach Lance Huber. "We had some fastbreak opportunities that we couldn't quite execute as well as we hoped and they made us pay on the other end with some big plays."