Intense effort powers Grayslake Central past Grayslake North
She sang so loud and with such ferocity.
And, yet, the talented Grayslake North student who belted out the national anthem wasn't nearly as intense as Grayslake Central boys basketball coach Brian Moe after he watched the host Knights cut a deficit that was 21 points early in the second half to 10 with nearly three minutes gone in the fourth quarter.
Moe slammed his clipboard to the court, then ripped off his sport coat and flung it onto a chair, before sternly addressing his players.
Chalk it up, perhaps, to good ol' crosstown-rivalry intensity. That, along with maybe the fact that Grayslake Central has never lost to Grayslake North.
The Rams still haven't, as they pulled out the Fox Valley Fox Division game 69-57 Tuesday night. They got team highs of 17 points and 11 rebounds from Josh Rappaport and three other scorers in double figures in winning their third game in a row.
Grayslake Central (9-6, 3-0) jumped out to leads of 11-0 and 19-2, and led 25-14 after one quarter.
"I think we just came out and were mentally prepared," Rappaport said. "We're starting to turn our season around."
"Intensity," senior forward Andrew Sipes added of the reason for the Rams' quick start. "Just being ready. Energy would be a good word."
Grayslake North (5-8, 0-2), which received 20 points from Teddy Ludwick, is now 0-7 against its crosstown rival. The Knights' slow start perplexed coach Todd Grunloh.
The Knights had played well for most of the night against Johnsburg in their FVC Fox opener last Saturday, despite losing to a Skyhawks team that was minus star C.J. Fiedorowicz (football commitment).
"We can play Johnsburg, who may win the division, and we're up by five in the third quarter, and we don't care if they have Fiedorowicz or not," Grunloh said. "We're not scared or tentative at all. But we step on the court in this game, and our first instinct is to be really passive."
Sophomore Jordan Taylor helped spark Grayslake Central, opening the game with a 3-pointer and then hitting another long jumper to make it 7-0. He scored 7 of his 14 points in the first quarter.
"We knew Rappaport obviously was going to be their primary scorer, but Taylor was a little bit of a surprise," Grunloh said. "We thought he'd be more (of a factor) off the dribble than anything else."
Rappaport's basket off Matt Murphy's inbounds pass early in the third quarter made it 44-23, and the Rams enjoyed a comfortable margin until the Knights started pecking away at their deficit in the final half minute of the quarter.
Buckets by Zach Estes and Matt Pucher (16 points, 5 assists) commenced a 12-4 run. A putback by Michael Verwijst (4 points, 12 rebounds) got an angry Moe to call timeout.
"We lost a little bit of our defensive intensity," Moe said. "(Grayslake North) came out and played very hard in the second half. If we had maybe hit a few more shots, or been a little more consistent with our defense, (our lead) could have been more. It's hard to keep your intensity that long."
The Rams regained it down the stretch. Ludwick's fourth 3-pointer got the Knights within 64-57 with 3:45 left, but the hosts never scored again.
Grayslake Central received 10 points apiece from Sipes and C.J. Stempeck (7 rebounds), who ended the game with a thunderous dunk.
"(Grayslake North) got kind of chippy and they made their comeback," Rappaport said. "(The play on the court) wasn't dirty. It was just really physical and really intense."