Grayslake North trips up Hampshire

Grayslake North boys basketball coach Todd Grunloh did not want his players to leave Hampshire's gym wondering what if.

Trailing by 11 points in the third quarter Saturday afternoon, the Knights rallied for a 50-48 victory to stay within 2 games of Fox Valley Conference Fox Division leader Grayslake Central with 3 games to play. The Grayslake schools meet once more in the division finale on Feb. 21.

"We said there's no guarantees that you can be playing for a conference championship late in the year," Grunloh said, "but you don't want to be in that last game against Grayslake Central saying, 'If we'd just beaten Hampshire, we could be.' We didn't want that what if factor, and they stepped up and had a good second half."

Hampshire was left to wonder what if another shot or two had fallen. The Whip-Purs connected on 21 of 51 attempts overall, 1 of 12 from 3-point range.

"We missed shots. We missed a lot of shots," Hampshire coach Bob Barnett said. "We were 1 for 9 from three in the first quarter. We just absolutely shot ourselves in the foot."

Hampshire (13-10, 5-4) led 25-21 at halftime and extended its lead to 11 midway through the third quarter. A 3-pointer from senior guard Brock Ralphs and a spin move to the basket by senior center Tyler Watzlawick upped the lead to 38-27.

Grayslake North (15-7, 7-2) responded with a 7-0 run a pair of free throws by senior guard Mark Hall, a 3-pointer from junior guard A.J. Fish and a pull-up jumper by 6-foot-5 senior Zack Krupp to pull within 38-34.

The Knights broke through for their first lead since early in the second quarter, 47-46, when Fish swished a turnaround baseline jump shot with 1:50 left in the game.

Hampshire responded as 6-foot-6 junior Shane Hernandez scored on a putback with 1:27 left. After a missed perimeter shot by Fish, Hampshire grabbed the rebound and Ralphs was subsequently fouled. However, he missed the front end of the bonus with 29 seconds left.

The Knights took advantage. Hall drove to the right elbow and bounced a backdoor pass to a cutting Fish along the baseline. Hampshire's Watzlawick seemingly blocked Fish's shot attempt cleanly, but the officials whistled another Whip-Pur for fouling Fish with the body. He stepped to the free-throw line with 15.9 seconds left and sank both clutch shots to put the Knights ahead 49-48.

"I knew he was going to go up strong and try to finish," Hall said of Fish. "Luckily, we got the foul call and he knocked down some big free throws."

Hampshire had a chance to win the game on its final possession. Ralphs received a kickout pass at the top of the circle with 6 seconds left. He drove past a defender at the free throw and launched a one-handed leaner over an oncoming defender, but the shot caught the front rim and the Knights grabbed the rebound.

Hall missed the second of 2 ensuing free throws with 3.2 seconds left, and the rebound was tapped away harmlessly as the final buzzer sounded.

The buzzword among the Knights afterward was perseverance.

"That's what we've been about all year," Fish said of the comeback. "Our team battles and battles. We don't let down. We keep on going."

Hampshire turned the ball over 8 times in the second half compared to 4 first-half miscues and the Whips made just 3 of 11 shots in the fourth quarter.

"We still had opportunities to win," Barnett said. "We missed a one-and-one. We get a foul on a beautiful block. We were in the bonus for a long time in the fourth quarter and didn't get to the free-throw line.

"We got up by 11, next thing you know it's a 4-point game and they didn't go away. They hit some shots when they needed to at the end and we didn't."

Grayslake North's scoring was balanced among its five starters. Fish led the Knights with 13 points and 10 rebounds (5 offensive), followed by Hall (10 points), Krupp (9 points, 6 rebounds), 6-foot-7 center Ben Guhl (8 points) and guard Danny Mateling (8 points).

Watzlawick led Hampshire with 15 points but was shut out in the fourth quarter on 2 shot attempts. Ralphs and Ryan Cork each had 9 points and Tyler Crater added 7 points for the Whip-Purs.